The Elasticity Screen - Cortexa Technology DermaLab Mini Instructions For Use Manual

CORTEX TECHNOLOGY ApS
As the suction principle applies mechanical stress to the measurement site, the measurement
cannot be immediately repeated in the exact same position. Allow 30 - 60 minutes between meas-
urements at the same position for the skin to recover.
During the measurement, care should be taken to avoid body movement as muscle tension may
impact the measurement. Also, do not touch the probe or pull the cables.

8.3 The Elasticity screen

D
E
F
B C A
Elasticity screen. The y-axis shows the elevation (mm), the x-axis is time (seconds).
The default skin thickness (A) is set to 1.00 mm. Optionally, it may be changed to the actual skin
thickness as measured using the ultrasound probe (see section 6 above).
Before starting a measurement:
- select the type of skin (Soft, Normal or Firm) (B). The correct setting is facilitated by the graph
fully utilize the dynamic range of the instrument. The optimal setting is a resulting skin elevation of
min. 1 to max. 3.5 mm.
- select the number of elevation/retraction cycles for the measurements (1, 3 or 5) (C).
By selecting 1 cycle the skin will be exercised only once, and there will be no accumulated effect
from repeated skin exercise.
By selecting 3 or 5 cycles the skin will be repeatedly exercised, which will introduce an accumu-
lated effect. This can be seen as a slight elevation increase for each cycle as well as an increase
in retraction time, which leads to a minor drop in E and VE for each cycle. The selection of 3/5 cy-
cles may serve as a validity check for the correct application of the probe to the skin as any air
leak can easily be identified on the curves.
When selecting 3/5 cycles, the results from each cycle as well as the total average may be dis-
played by using the buttons (D).
The setting of the number of elevation/retraction cycles may depend on the study design and per-
sonal preference.
Press Sample to initiate the elasticity measurement. The selected vacuum will be applied in-
stantly, and the skin will immediately be lifted. On the graph, the actual height of elevation as a
function of time can be seen. After a fixed time, the vacuum will be released, the elevated skin re-
tracts, and Young's Modulus, Retraction time and Visco Elasticity is calculated for each cycle.
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