Method for estimation of structural composition of skin layers based on light propagation simulation for liposuction applications

Skin surface irregularity is the most common side effect after liposuction. To reduce this, it is necessary to devise a systematic method to provide structural composition details of skin layers, such as fat thickness and fat boundary tilt angle, for the plastic surgeon. Several commercial portable devices are available to measure skin layer information, working on the principle of a near-infrared technique using the light penetration properties of tissue in optical windows. However, these can only measure general fat thickness and not the structural compositions of skin layers with irregularities. Therefore, our goal in this paper is to propose a method to estimate the structural compositions of skin layers by analyzing and validating the relationship between light distribution and structural composition from simulation data based on specific structural conditions.