Recent advances in clinical application of optical coherence tomography of human skin

Abstract

Thilo Gambichler, Azem Pljakic, Lutz SchmitzDepartment of Dermatology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, GermanyAbstract: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an emerging noninvasive imaging method that uses infrared light and interferometric techniques. The method has become increasingly popular in skin research as well as daily dermatology practice. In the present brief review, we focused on recent (2009–2014) OCT studies on the human skin, which included a reasonable sample size and statistics. Twenty-five papers were selected and briefly described OCT of epidermal thickness, skin appendages, wound healing, extracellular matrix and skin fibrosis, vascular malformations, and skin tumors such as basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratoses, and malignant melanoma.Keywords: optical coherence tomography, dermatology, skin imaging, interferometry, histology