High Definition Liquid Lens Can See Beneath the Skin’s Surface

On the horizon of dermatologic technology is a new portable imaging device that delivers a high resolution 3-D image of what lies beneath the surface of the tissue it’s in contact with. In doing so, the device could aid in future skin lesion diagnosis.




Using optical coherence microscopy, where a special liquid lens with water in place of glass changes shape to take thousands of pictures with near infrared light, the device compiles images to create a single comprehensive image of all the tissue up to one millimeter deep. That doesn’t sound that impressive, but due to the infrared light used, the device gives micron-scale resolution compared with the millimeter-scale resolution often found in ultrasound technology. Talk about going under the microscope.

Recently presented at the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, the technology could someday enhance and expedite diagnosis of moles or suspicious skin lesions, saving patients time and money.

Would you rather just remove moles that have the potential to become cancerous or trust technology like this to tell if there is real cause for concern?