Instrumental and clinical studies of the facial skin tone and pigmentation of Shanghaiese women. Changes induced by age and a cosmetic whitening product.

The pigmentation patterns of facial skin of 354 healthy Chinese women aged 1880 years were investigated clinically and instrumentally. Chromasphere (R) was used to acquire pictures from the cheeks of subjects. Facial skin tone was described by L* parameter from the L,a,b system as well as Individual Typology Angle (ITA). Results show that skin tone becomes significantly darker along the life span. Both size of hyper-pigmented spots and their contrast with surrounding skin were found increased with age. As additional study, 40 women from these 354 subjects were asked to apply daily a whitening cosmetic product for a 2-month period. Such application led to a significantly lighter skin tone, although this study was not vehicle controlled and we cannot exclude that the increase in L* observed was in some part because of cumulative effects of previously used whitening products, there was an association with lighter skin tone as assessed through both instrumental measurements and self-perception by most subjects.