1. What is scalp impurities/scalp porphyrin?
Porphyrins are by-products produced by sebum residue and bacteria, especially Cutibacterium acnes (the bacteria linked to acne) that live in clogged pore and hair follicles on the skin. Due to increased sensitivity to sunlight and inflammations caused by bacteria porphyrins, a person with excessive skin porphyrin may experience:
- Acnes and other inflammatory skin diseases.
- More pimples, whiteheads, or blackheads appear.
- The skin may look greasy, especially on the nose, forehead, and chin (T-zone).
- Pores may look bigger or darker.
To assist diagnosis of impurities caused by scalp porphyrin, a scalp image needs to be taken under the UVL light using the ChoiceTech Mobile Analyzer for Hair. Under the UVL light, impurities can be revealed as bright white, orange, and red spots. Our algorithm then evaluates the impurities in the image and provides the grading
2. ChoiceTech scalp impurities grade
The following ChoiceTech impurities grade has been co-developed by ChoiceTech and dermatology experts. For each image, we detect impurities to provide a quantified score. Based on the scale shown in Table 1, we grade scalp impurities into clear, almost clear, mild, moderate, and severe.
| Grade | Scale | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Clear | 0 ~ 9 | Clear skin with little to no impurities |
| Almost Clear | 10 ~ 20 | Mild impurities resides in some follicles |
| Mild | 21 ~ 54 | Moderate amount of impurities building up in many follicles |
| Moderate | 55 ~ 85 | Severe buildup of impurities in large amount of follicles |
| Severe | 86 ~ 99 | Very severe buildup of impurities in almost all follicles |
| Clear |  |  |
| Almost Clear |  |  |
| Mild |  |  |
| Moderate |  |  |
| Severe |  |  |