NON-LINEAR SPECTRAL IMAGING MICROSCOPY STUDIES OF HUMAN HYPERTROPHIC SCAR

Skin scar is unique to humans, the major significant negative outcome sustained after thermal injuries, traumatic injuries, and surgical procedures. Hypertrophic scar in human skin is investigated using non-linear spectral imaging microscopy. The high contrast images and spectroscopic intensities of collagen and elastic fibers extracted from the spectral imaging of normal skin tissue, and the normal skin near and far away from the hypertrophic scar tissues in a 10-year-old patient case are obtained. The results show that there are apparent differences in the morphological structure and spectral characteristics of collagen and elastic fibers when comparing the normal skin with the hypertrophic scar tissue. These differences can be good indicators to differentiate the normal skin and hypertrophic scar tissue and demonstrate that non-linear spectral imaging microscopy has potential to noninvasively investigate the pathophysiology of human hypertrophic scar.