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The Measurement and Perception of Uneven Coloration in Aging Skin

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Textbook of Aging Skin

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Abstract

Human beings view the world using sensitive light meters that operate on the basis of “Contrast Sensitivity”. “Contrast” can be defined simply as a ratio of adjacent luminance values and “Contrast Sensitivity” is a measure of how faded or washed-out an image can become before it is indistinguishable from a uniform field. It has been determined experimentally that the minimum discernible difference in grey-scale level that the human eye can detect is about 2% of full brightness [1, 2]. This outstanding Contrast Sensitivity allows the world around to be perceived in great detail; indeed, without contrast (and a means for achieving this via a variable-focus mechanism), human beings would effectively be rendered blind. The human eye, therefore, is drawn automatically to areas with high ratios of adjacent luminance – in simple terms, the world is viewed through edges created by contrast.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. P&G Beauty, Rusham Park Technical Centre, Whitehall Lane, Egham, Surrey, KT15 2HT, UK

    Paul J. Matts

Authors
  1. Paul J. Matts
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Procter & Gamble Company, 6110 Center Hill Avenue, 45224, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Miranda A. Farage Ph.D. (Principal Scientist) (Principal Scientist)

  2. The Procter & Gamble Company, 6110 Center Hill Avenue, 45224, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Kenneth W. Miller Ph.D. (Associate Director) (Associate Director)

  3. Department of Dermatology, University of California, School of Medicine, 222 SE 8th Ave., Suite 563, 94122, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Howard I. Maibach M.D. (Professor) (Professor)

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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Matts, P.J. (2010). The Measurement and Perception of Uneven Coloration in Aging Skin. In: Farage, M.A., Miller, K.W., Maibach, H.I. (eds) Textbook of Aging Skin. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89656-2_72

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89656-2_72

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-89655-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-89656-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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