Photography and densitometry to measure skin pigmentation caused by ultraviolet exposure

This was a project that a final year physiotherapy student was undertaking. Part of the project required the measurement of skin pigmentation before and after treatment with a standard E2 UV dose. The measurement of skin redness was undertaken using an erythema meter, and it was necessary to use photographic and densitometric techniques to measure skin pigmentation. The results of this experiment proved to be consistent with other published papers on the way that skin types react on exposure to standard UV doses. This paper describes the photographic method and procedures that were used and the way the raw data was treated so that it could be used for statistical analysis by the physiotherapy student.