Researchers have developed a cutting-edge wearable device that offers real-time insights into skin health, promising transformative advances in medical science and patient care.
Researchers led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) have created an innovative wearable device that monitors skin health in real time. This pioneering technology, detailed in a paper published in Nature, signifies a major leap in wearable bioelectronics.
“We tend to think of our skin as being this impermeable barrier that’s just enclosing our body,” co-lead author Matthew Flavin, an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech, said in a news release. “Our skin is constantly in flux with the gases that are in our environment and our atmosphere.”
The compact, wireless device is uniquely capable of continuously and precisely measuring water vapor, volatile organic compounds and carbon dioxide fluxes in the skin. These metrics are crucial because their increase can signal infections and delayed healing.
“You could think of this being used where a Band-Aid is being used,” added Flavin. This form of wireless monitoring “could give clinicians a new tool to understand the properties of the skin.”
Overcoming Measurement Challenges
Historically, accurately measuring how well our skin protects against environmental threats has been difficult, especially over long periods.
“The vapors coming from your skin are in very, very low concentration,” Flavin added. “If we just put a sensor next to your skin, it would be almost impossible to control that measurement.”
The new device features a small chamber with specialized sensors that condense and measure skin vapors. Utilizing a low-energy, bi-stable mechanism that periodically refreshes the air, the device provides continuous measurements transmitted via Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet.
“There are other devices that can measure certain parts of what we’re talking about here,” Flavin added, “but they are not feasible for a wearable device, can’t do this continuously, and are not able to get all the information that our device can get.”
New Way of Measuring
One of the primary functions of the device is to track skin’s water vapor flux or transepidermal water loss. This ability to assess skin barrier function and track wound healing is invaluable, especially for diabetic patients.
“What you see in diabetes is that even after the wound looks like it’s healed, there’s still a persistent impairment of that barrier,” adde Flavin.
This new non-invasive device can track these properties, potentially making remote care more accessible.
“There are many areas where people don’t have great access to healthcare, and there aren’t doctors monitoring wound healing processes,” added Flavin. “Something that can be used to monitor that remotely could make care more accessible to people with these conditions.”
Besides health applications, the device is ideal for long-term studies on skin’s response to environmental hazards like wildfires or chemical fumes.
“This measurement modality is very new and we’re still learning what we can do with it,” added co-leader Jaeho Shin, a senior researcher at KIST. “It’s a new way of measuring what’s inside the body.”
“This is a great example of the kind of technology that can emerge from research at the interface between engineering science and medical practice,” added co-leader John Rogers, a materials science professor at Northwestern. “The capabilities provided by this device will not only improve patient care, but they will also lead to improved understanding of the skin, the skin microbiome, the processes of wound healing and many others.”
Source: Georgia Institute of Technology