Background: In the clinical practice, transparent films are used as sterile interfaces in in vivo dermatologic imaging in order to prevent the transmissions of infections. However, in our experience, the use of a transparent film can alter skin images. Our study aimed to compare the optical quality of a series of different plastic films used as interfaces in order to understand if some might be more suitable for imaging.
Materials and methods: We tested the optical properties of 11 different protective transparent films that are marketed in France with a transparency meter and a spectrophotometer.
Results: Transmission, minimal diffusion, amount of gray, and contrast were obtained for each transparent film. Transmission ranged from 93.24% to 96.88% (mean 95.36; standard deviation SD 1.02), minimal diffusion from 88.28% to 123.87% (mean 101.04; standard deviation SD 10.02) and contrast from 11.01 to 15.88 (mean 13.93 and SD 1.3). For some films, the transmission was lower at lower wavelengths.
Conclusion: All tested films had excellent optical properties. However, some of them had better optical qualities and seemed more suitable for their use in dermatologic imaging.
Keywords: Imaging; dermoscopy; film; image quality; infections; reflectance confocal microscopy; transparent plastic film.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S . Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.