Methods and apparatus for quantifying photo-damage

1. A method of obtaining a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in an area of skin comprising:

receiving an image of an area of skin to be analyzed;

processing the obtained image to determine blood distribution data indicative of the distribution of blood in an imaged area of skin;

converting the determined blood distribution data to a frequency domain representation of the blood distribution data; and

processing the converted blood distribution data to obtain a measurement of the number of features of a predetermined size in the determined distribution of blood; and

using the measurement of number of features of a predetermined size to obtain a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in the area of skin.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the converted blood distribution data to obtain a measurement of the number of features of a predetermined size comprises:

identifying from an array of real coefficients generated by converting blood distribution data using a Discrete Fourier Transform, coefficients corresponding to features of a predetermined size; and

calculating an average value of said identified real coefficients.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a maximum blood concentration using the obtained blood distribution data;

obtaining a measurement of the extent of telangectasia using the maximum blood concentration; and

determining a weighted average of the measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained using the determined maximum blood concentration and said measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained from the number of features of a predetermined size.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying an average blood concentration using the obtained blood distribution data;

obtaining a measurement of the extent of telangestasia using the average blood concentration; and

determining a weighted average of the measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained using the determined average blood concentration and said measurement of the extent of telangestasia obtained from the number of features of a predetermined size.

5. A method of obtaining a measurement of the extent of photo damage in an area of skin comprising:

obtaining a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in accordance with the method of claim 1 ;

processing the obtained image to determine melanin distribution data indicative of the distribution of melanin in an imaged area of skin;

determining a measurement of the extent of disorder in the distribution of melanin in the imaged area of skin; and

determining a weighted average of the determined measurement of the extent of telangectasia and said determined measurement of the extent of disorder in the distribution of melanin in the imaged area of skin to provide a measurement of the extent of photo damage in the area of skin.

6. A method of obtaining a measurement of the extent of photo damage in an area of skin comprising:

obtaining a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in accordance with the method of claim 1 ;

processing the obtained image to identify the proportion of an image having a hue corresponding to a hue associated with the appearance of degraded collagen; and

determining a weighted average of the determined measurement of extent of telangectasia and said identified proportion of an image having a hue corresponding to a hue associated with the appearance of degraded collagen to provide a measurement of the extent of photo damage in the area of skin.

7. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

selecting weights for determining weighted averages of measurements, wherein said weights are selected so as to best correlate with age.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said sampled population comprises a sampled population sharing at least one of gender and skin type.

9. A computer readable medium storing computer interpretable instructions which when interpreted by a programmable computer cause the computer to obtain an image of an area of skin to be analyzed;

process the obtained image to determine blood distribution data indicative of the distribution of blood in an imaged area of skin;

convert the determined blood distribution data to a frequency domain representation of the blood distribution data; and

process the converted blood distribution data to obtain a measurement of the number of features of a predetermined size in the determined distribution of blood; and

use the measurement of number of features of a predetermined size to obtain a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in the area of skin.

10. An apparatus for obtaining a measurement of the extent of photo-damage in an area of skin comprising:

a light source operable to illuminate an area of skin with polarized light;

a camera operable to obtain an image of remitted light of a different polarity to that with which the light source is operable to illuminate an area of skin remitted from an area of skin illuminated by the light source; and

a processor configured to:

process an image obtained by the camera to determine blood distribution data indicative of the distribution of blood in the area of imaged skin;

convert the determined blood distribution data to a frequency domain representation of the blood distribution data; and

process converted blood distribution data to obtain a measurement of the number of features of a predetermined size in the determined distribution of blood; and

use the measurement of number of features of a predetermined size to obtain a measurement of the extent of telangectasia in the area of skin.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is operable to process converted blood distribution data to obtain a measurement of the number of features of a predetermined size by:

identifying from an array of real coefficients generated by converting blood distribution data using a Discrete Fourier Transform, coefficients corresponding to features of a predetermined size; and

calculating an average value of said identified real coefficients.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor is further operable to:

identify a maximum blood concentration using the obtained blood distribution data;

obtain a measurement of the extent of telangectasia using the maximum blood concentration; and

determine a weighted average of the measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained using the determined maximum blood concentration and said measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained from the number of features of a predetermined size.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor is further operable to:

identify an average blood concentration using the obtained blood distribution data;

obtain a measurement of the extent of telangectasia using the average blood concentration; and

determine a weighted average of the measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained using the determined average blood concentration and said measurement of the extent of telangectasia obtained from the number of features of a predetermined size.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor is further operable to determine a measurement of the extent of photo-damage in an area of skin by:

processing an obtained image to determine melanin distribution data indicative of the distribution of melanin in an imaged area of skin;

determining a measurement of the extent of disorder in the distribution of melanin in the imaged area of skin; and

determining a weighted average of a determined measurement of the extent of telangectasia and a determined measurement of the extent of disorder in the distribution of melanin in the imaged area of skin to provide a measurement of the extent of photo damage in the area of skin.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the processor is further operable to determine a measurement of the extent of photo-damage in an area of skin by:

processing an obtained image to identify the proportion of an image having a hue corresponding to a hue associated with the appearance of degraded collagen; and

determining a weighted average of the determined measurement of extent of telangectasia and said identified proportion of an image having a hue corresponding to a hue associated with the appearance of degraded collagen to provide a measurement of the extent of photo damage in the area of skin.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the processor is further operable to select weights for determining weighted averages of measurements, wherein said weights are selected so as to best correlate with age.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said sampled population comprises a sampled population sharing at least one of gender and skin type.

18. The method of claim 5 comprising:

processing the obtained image to identify the proportion of an image having a hue corresponding to a hue associated with the appearance of degraded collagen;

wherein said identified proportion is included in the determination of a weighted average.

19. The method of claim 18 in which the weighting factors are determined by performing multivariate linear regression between the measurements to be weighted and the ages of a sample population.

20. The apparatus of claim 14 wherein the processor is further operable to:

process the obtained image to identify the proportion of an image having a hue corresponding to a hue associated with the appearance of degraded collagen;

wherein said identified proportion is included in the determination of a weighted average.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 in which the processor is configured to determine the weighting factors by performing multivariate linear regression between the measurements to be weighted and the ages of a sample population.