The technologies developed by mySkin Inc. have the potential to enable consumers to more easily find skincare products that truly work. By using its skin analysis devices to track skin health, consumers would be able to better assess and address their own skincare needs.

At the HBA Global Expo 2014, mySkin Inc. presented its technologies, and various applications, to a packed conference room filled with beauty executives.

The company already markets what it calls the ‘dermograph’ – “the world’s first B2B dermograph device for transdermal imaging.” Now, mySkin Inc. has a new consumer device, OKU (or ScanZ, its development code name.) It connects to an iPhone, and analyzes the state of your acne. Future versions are planned for tackling aging and skin health tracking. The company has also developed various mobile-phone based skin analysis apps.

“Consumers care about their skin. It’s your largest organ, but it’s often forgotten,” says Rahul Mehendale, mySkin Inc.’s co-founder and CEO. “We want to give consumers the power to measure the health of their skin on their own, so that they will know what their skin needs, and they can purchase the right products to improve their skin’s health, and track progress,” he says.

There are other technologies that can assess skin health, but Mehendale explains, “No one is doing skin diagnostics in such a user-friendly, iPhone-connected way. We have the world’s first mobile connected device to measure skin health.”

A Beauty Device for Millennials?

During the presentation at HBA, Mehendale and co-founder Sava Marinkovich showed attendees a prototype of OKU. The acne-scanning pocket device is described as an “on-the-go-skin expert that connects to your iPhone.”

The device scans the skin and then sends data to an app when it’s connected to a cell phone. ScanZ tracks the progression of acne – and will even tell users when a pimple will clear up.

The up side for beauty brands is that the device can help users determine which products will help their acne clear up more quickly.

La Prairie is currently using mySkin’s B2B dermograph device, paired with a tablet, at its beauty counters. It can measure skin health, showing charts and graphs for all measurable variables, and also connects consumers to the right product from La Prairie’s inventory.

“La Prarie’s executives have been thrilled at how consumers have never in their history given as high marks to La Prairie in terms of making the brand seem scientific and credible as when using the dermograph,” says Mehendale.

At the conference, Mehendale explained the need for these types of devices, saying, “when doctors want to know if your heart is working properly, they measure your heart rate. To determine if the eyes are working properly, one can look at a chart to check sight.”

But for the skin, Mehendale explained, experts only look at the surface – using outer appearance to make determinations. “That is as flawed as only looking at me to determine if my heart is working OK – or looking at me to tell if my eyes are working okay,” said Mehendale.

Next, Mehendale asked the crowd questions like, “If you know you have dry skin, what is causing it? Is it due to low oil production, or due to low moisture activity?”

“No one knows, and there is a difference,” he explains. “Oil and moisture are the basic building blocks of skin health. Dermatologists don’t even use this type of analytics tool, and it’s time for that to change,” says Mehendale. “Once you know these details, you can choose more effective products that address the reason for the dryness and selecting a high oil product or a mist like a moisturizing product,” he added.

The Technology and How It Works

The technological platform mySkin Inc. developed is unique for the beauty business, since it uses medical quantification methods, and then interprets the results in a way that’s easy to understand. The technology can also be applied to create different types of scanning tools developed for consumer use, to address different concerns.

The company’s transdermal imaging technology, when paired with a scanning device, looks beneath the skin’s surface using the visible light spectrum, along with sensors to pick up on reflected light. There is also a magnifying element and a special light source to illuminate the skin’s underlying layers. It has the ability to measure and analyze 13 factors, including moisture activity, oil production, collagen levels, and melatonin activity.

“Visible light typically penetrates a few millimeters through the skin and is enough for the sensors to safely and noninvasively read and understand the various skin structures and component,” explains Mehendale.

Bringing It To Market?

After the presentation at HBA, Mehendale says many brands expressed interest, especially in having an exclusive deal. We can probably expect to see the skin imaging technology used in other devices in the near future – or perhaps a brand will sign on to market OKU.

“We are expecting our consumer device to reach retailers by the holiday season,” says Mehendale. He adds, “Our goal is to sign a deal by September.”