I tried it. It showed some wrinkles below my eyes where the skin is thinner (even though my skin appears perfect from the outside), which might be related to not enough collagen…
Essentially 0 UV damage/age spots/most other types of damage.
I also have porphyrins, but it’s unclear if this is aging-related so this is not too concerning…
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Your Skin Carotenoid Score Revealed Now
Dear Alex,
Your Pharmanex® BioPhotonic Scanner results are in! Your personalized scan, measured by X on 12/15/2023, returned a Skin Carotenoid Score (SCS) of 69000.
Your Skin Carotenoid Score is an immediate measurement of your own skin carotenoid content and an important indicator of your body’s antioxidant defense system. The higher your score – the more carotenoids are present in your skin.
Spots: Age 10
Wrinkles: Age 10
Texture: Age 14
Pores: Age 50
UV Spots: Age 62
Brown spots: Age 11
Red areas: Age 70
Autofluorescence: age 32
Multispectral imaging face age: 41
Obviously looking at his skin, he doesn’t look that young [this is really hard for him to rejuvenate], and I suspect it’s structural (elastin/collagen) stuf more so than UV spots or age spots… This at least gives hopes that wrinkles are reversible
Alex, where did you get this done?
I’ve called some places in the SF Bay Area that mention Visia analysis on their website, but then I call and they’ve phased it out and no longer offer it.
I would think it is relatively old tech. It is, however, a system where you can objectively compare facial skin over a period of time. I have done the measurements about 6 times and I intend analysing the change in a spreadsheet as soon as I get all my June 2023 results.
I went on holiday over the summer and because I was concerned that I may not be able to maintain my protocol at its highest level whilst on holiday I reduced it some weeks before going on holiday. Whilst on holiday I was in the sun as well.
What appears to have happened is that the skin quality deterioated a bit on holiday and has since been recovering, but I need to do the analysis.
I haven’t tried the Visia scanner but I tried the Pharmanex Biophotonic scanner in 2004 and got scores of 41000 and 38000. AFAIK it’s mostly serves as an indirect indictor of carotenoid intake and deposition in skin.
I have just done another Visia scan and attach one of the comparative photos. Sadly I have to photograph the computer that runs it with my mobile which is not ideal.
I find skin something useful to compare because it is all about the maintenance of the Extra Cellular Matrix. My assumption is that given that I am not doing anything specific to the skin beyond exposing it to the sun without sunscreen and using soap and water (ie no botox), if I can get the structure of the
ECM to improve then I can assume similar activity is likely in other tissues.
The Visia Scan’s analysis is a little unpredictable I think, but at least I have photographs in similar lighting to compare which is useful. In a broader sense I think the direction of travel involves reasonably good maintenance of the ECM.
Lancôme Cell BioPrint — they advertise a “rapport complet”: biological skin age + 5 protein markers + protocol. It shows on a tablet. Ask for email / PDF / photo of every screen. If they say no PDF, photograph the tablet before you leave. That’s your archive.
Clarins Skin Observer — scores on the mirror/tablet. Same rule: photo every page. They rarely email a clinical PDF.
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japan
Japan-only POLA APEX analysis — free
14-second face video + skin camera. Scores epidermis / dermis / subcutis and “what will show next.” Built on ~20 million Japanese skin records. Closest local analogue to “we actually measured you,” without a lab chip.
POLA Ginza, 1-7-7 Ginza, or Omotesando. Book 肌分析 (~30–60 min). Soft sell for custom APEX bottles. Photograph the screen.
pola.co.jp
Shiseido Beauty Diagnosis Lab — ¥30,000, ~3 hours
Yokohama Minato Mirai, Shiseido Global Innovation Center
1-2-11 Takashima, Nishi-ku, Yokohama (Shin-Takashima station)
13 measures: skin surface, stratum corneum protein, oxidation/glycation, nose bone, gait, scent/tea response → 144-type ID + future-face. Researcher + advisor. Japanese-language service when it launched. Park itself is free; this lab is booked and often waitlisted.
Department-store counters (free, weaker)
Isetan Shinjuku / Ginza Six: Shiseido, SK-II, Clé de Peau, Lancôme cameras. Fine as extras, not the report you keep.
