Photoacoustic monitoring of corticosteroids’ vasoconstrictive effects in the skin

Corticosteroids are commonly used medications for dermatological diseases. The main mechanisms of corticosteroids are vasoconstriction and anti-inflammatory. In medical field, its effectiveness is determined based on the degree of skin whitening caused by vasoconstriction. In this study, we first quantitatively evaluate the vasoconstriction induced by corticosteroids using photoacoustic microscopy (PAM). We longitudinally monitor vascular density and observe vasoconstriction by corticosteroids. Further, the changes in vascular density are quantified in each skin layer. From these results, we believe that PAM could potentially be a useful evaluation tool to predict the effectiveness of the corticosteroids in dermatology.