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Report No. 189
From Project Ho. 6-64-3.2-028
VTE SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE OF IIUAN SKIN IN THEREGION 0.7-2.6 p.
by
J. A. Jacquez, J. Iuss, W. McKeehan, J. M Dimitroffand H. F. Kuppenheim
from
Biophysics Department
• .b ., o. 15 March .1955.. " "
! • Abstract;
•Spectral reflectance curves for lhlman skin are presn'ed fortho wavelengths 0.7 to 2.6 ;x. Tho struature-of "th~e reflectance curv'esabove 1,2 )a is dominated by the. absorption spectrum of water., -
19!.
REPORT NO. 189
THE SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE OF HUMAN SKININ THE REGION 0.7-Z.6 ,*
by
J. A. Jacquem, J. Huss, W. McKeehan, J. M. Dimitroffand H. F. Kuppenheim
from
Biophysics DepartmentArmy Medical Research Laboratory
Fort KnoX, Kentucky18 April 1955
*Subtask under Environmental Physiology, AMRL Project No. 6-64-
12-028, Subtask, Biophysical Studies of Skin.
Report No. 189Project No. 6-64-12-028Subtask AMRL, S-14MEDEA
ABSTRACT
THE SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE OF HUMAN SKININ THE REGION 0. 7-Z, 6 'p
OBJECT.
To obtain curves of the spectral reflectance of human skin fo.r thewavelengths 0. 7 to 2. 6 p.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The spectral reflectances of the skin of twelve young Whites,four Negroes and two Japanese have been recorded for the range 0.7-2.6 p. Above 1. 2 x all curves are practically identical and showprimarily the absorption bands of water. Appreciable differencesrelated to differences in pigmentation appear only below I )1.
RECOMMENDATIONS
None.
Submitted 15 March 1955 by:John A. Jacquez, Capt. , MCJohn Huss, PfcWayne McKeehan,. Cpllames M. Dimitroff, BiologistHans F. Kuppenheim, Chief Biophysicist
APPROVE D:VED:-RA)'G/DAG r
Di tc.; of Research
A PP R V ED:-- '4 VWILLTAM W. COX1,. (.0o101el, MGCornmrndin g
THE SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE OF HUMAN SKIN
IN THE REGION 0.7-2.6 p
I. INTRODUCTION
Considerable data are now available on the spectral reflectanceof living human skin (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) for 235-1000 mp. Hardy andMuschenheim (6) have presented two reflectance curves of livinghuman skin for wavelengths up to 8 p. These were, however, cal-culated from comparative measurements of directional reflectance ofliving skin and of MgCO 3 . No direct measurements of total reflect-ance for wavelengths above one micron are available, yet this region
" "is of major interest for the study of radiation burns.
The present report presents data on the reflectance of livinghuman skin for the range 0.7 to 2. 6)1.{1 II. METHODS AND MATERIALS
A. Apparatus
A spectrophotometer designed and assembled at the NavalMaterial Laboratory (7), improved by the addition of a comparisontype integrating sphere (8), designed and built at this laboratory (9),was used for the measurements. It will be referred to as the NML
j .. spectrophotometer hereafter. This spectrophotometer is a recordinginstrument which uses two parallel measuring circuits; the referencedetector receives a beam directly fromn a mirror on a chopper motorwhile the signal detector views the inside of the integrating sphere.Both detectors receive flux chopped at 13 cycles per second. Onlythe 13 cycle AC signal is measured; any DC signal due to a constantlevel of stray energy in the sphere is not measured. A servo systemvaries the entrance slit of the monochromator to maintain a constantsignal level from the reference detector. The performance character-istics of this instrument with the integrating sphere have been investi-gated and described previously (9).
B. Method of Measurement
A sample of vitrolite from the National Bureau of Standards(V3-G38) which had been standardized against MgO was used as a
*working standprd (9). The vitrolite was placed at one aperture of theintegrating sphere and the volar surface of the forearm of the subjectwas placed at the other aperture. An arm rest was placed so thatholding the arm to the sphere did not cause undue muscular tension.
IIIIIIII
A recording was made with the beam incident on the vitrolite and thenone with the beam incident on the skin. One recording took about 10minutes. The measured reflectance values were converted to reflect-ances relative to the reflectance of MgO (i. e. , rskin/rMgo)(9), andare so reported.
Reflectances were measured on the skin of 11 young whitew,ales, 1 young white female, 4 negro males and 2 young men ofJapanese descent.
III. RESULTS
Figure 1 shows the extremes of the reflectance curves of the 12Whites. The upper curve is of a very blond young male and the loweris of a very dark complexioned young male. All of the other curvesfor the Whites fell between these two up to 1. 2 p. Above 1. 2 p noneof the curves differed significantly. Figure 2 gives the reflectancecurves for the 2 Japanese males and Figure 3 the curves for 2 Ameri-can Negroes. The upper curve of Figure 3 is from a very lightly
pigmented American Negro whereas the lower curve is from an ex-tremely dark Negro, For comparison with Figures 1-3, Figure 4shows the transmittance of 1 mm of distilled water in a quartz cuvetteand the reflectance of a 4. 6 mm layer of a paste of 35% MgO and 6516distilled water held between quartz plates. The latter is pi'esentedto show how the presence of scattering particles makes the curve
more like that of skin in the relative heights of the absorption maximaand minima. The variation between the lightest white and darkestnegro in the present series is presented in Figure 5 for the range 0. 4to 2. 6 #. The data from 0. 4 to 0. 7 p vbre obtained with the GeneralElectric recording spectrophotometer. Note that the wavelength scalechanges at 0.8 p.
IV. DISCUSSION
As shown by the curves, the reflectance of human skin above 1. Zuis primarily the reflectance of a scattering component mixed withwater. The reflectance is dominated by the absorption bands of water.Hardy and Muschenheim (10) have also pointed this out in their studyof the transmission of infrared by excised skin. The 5-6% reflectanceremaining at the long wavelength limit may represent Fresnel reflect-ion at the skin surface just as in the reflectance curve in Figure 4 itrepresents surface reflection off the quartz plate.
In contrast to the lack of individual differences in the reflectancecurves above 1. Z p. striking differences do appear below 1. 2"1; theyare correlated with differences in skin pigmentation. Extensive studies
on the region 440-1000 mp on whites and negroes have previouslybeen presented (4).
V. CONCLUSIONS
Above 1. 2 ), the reflectance curves of the skin of differentlypigmented persons are practically identical and show primarily theabsorption spectrum of water.
VI. RECOMMENDATIONS
None.
VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Edwards, E. A. and S. Q. Duntley. The pigments and colorof living human skin. Am. J. Anat. 65: 1, 1939.
2. Edwards, E. A., N. A. Finkelstein and S. Q. Duntley.Spectrophotometry of living human skin in the ultravioletrange. J. Invest. Dermat. 16: 311, 1951.
3. Goldzieher, J. W., J. S. Roberts, W. B. Rawls and M. A.
Goldzieher. "Chemical" analysis of the intact skin by re-flectance spectrophotometry. Arch. Dermat. and Syph.64: 533, 1951.
4. Kuppenheim, H. F. and R. R. Heer, Jr. Spectral reflect-ance of white and negro skin between 440 and 1000 m . J.Appl. Physiol. 4: 800, 1952.
5. Jacquez, J. A., J. T. Randall, M. Goodman, W. McKeehan,J. M. Dimitroff, and H. F. Kuppenheim. The spectralreflectance of human skin in the region 235-1000 mp. AMRLReport No. 159, Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1 December 1954.
0. Hardy, J. D. ant. C. Muschenheim. The radiation of heatfrom the human body. IV. The emission, reflection, andtransmission of infra-red radiation by the human skin. J.Clin. Investigation, 13: 817, 1934.
7. Derksen, W. L. and T. I. Monahan. A reflectometer formeasuring diffuse reflectance in the visible and infraredregions. J. Optic. Soc. America, 42: 263, 1952.
8. Jacquez, J. A. and H. F. Kuppenheim.r. The theory of theintegrating sphere. AMRL Report No. 150, Fort Knox,Kentucky, 26 November 1954.
9. Jacquez, J. A., W. McKeehan, J. Huss, J. M. Dimitroff,and H. F. Kuppenheim. An integrating sphere for measuringdiffuse reflectance in the near infrared. AMRL Report No.188, Fort Knox, Kentucky, 14 April 1955.
10. Hardy, J. D., and C. Muschenheim. Radiation of heat from
the human body. V. The transmission of infra-red radiationthrough skin. J. Clin. Investigation, 15: 1, 1936.
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