Skin viscoelasticity with surface wave method

Characterization of the viscoelastic mechanical properties of skin is important for improving accurate medical examination and diagnosis of disorders involving cutaneous and subcutaneous tissues. Several noninvasive methods have been developed for measurement of mechanical properties of skin. However, most methods measure a stiffness parameter but not the material properties of skin. A novel surface wave method has been developed by us for non-invasively estimating the elasticity of tissue. In this paper, we have extended this method for measuring viscoelastic material properties of human skin. A small force is generated by a mechanical shaker on the skin. The surface vibration of skin is measured using a laser vibrometer. Viscoelasticity of human skin at six anatomic sites are measured.