UV Wearables Get Stretchy in a Patch

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L'Oréal has introduced the first-ever stretchable skin sensor designed to monitor UV exposure and help consumers educate themselves about sun protection. My UV Patch was introduced at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) on Jan. 6, 2016, and may be a useful technology to increase a client's smart sun behavior in addition to regular sunscreen.

There are rigid UV monitoring wearables on the market, but this patch is a transparent adhesive that stretches and adheres directly to any area of skin that consumers want to monitor. Measuring approximately one square inch in area and 50 micrometers thick, the patch contains photosensitive dyes that factor in the baseline skin tone and change colors when exposed to UV rays to indicate varying levels of sun exposure.

The patch will be marketed under the company's La Roche-Posay brand. Clients will be able to take a photo of the patch and upload it to the La Roche-Posay My UV Patch mobile app, which analyzes the varying photosensitive dye squares to determine the amount of UV exposure the wearer has received. The My UV Patch mobile app will be available on both iOS and Android, incorporating Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled technology into the patch-scanning process for Android.

The patch is expected to be made available to consumers in late 2016.

"Connected technologies have the potential to completely disrupt how we monitor the skin's exposure to various external factors, including UV," said Guive Balooch, global VP of L'Oréal's Technology Incubator. "Previous technologies could only tell users the amount of potential sun exposure they were receiving per hour while wearing a rigid, non-stretchable device. The key was to design a sensor that was thin, comfortable and virtually weightless so people would actually want to wear it."

My UV Patch was developed by L'Oreal's U.S.-based Technology Incubator, a business division dedicated entirely to technological innovation, alongside MC10, Inc., a leading stretchable electronics company using cutting-edge innovation to create the most intelligent, stretchable systems for biometric healthcare analytics. L'Oreal also worked with PCH, who design engineered the sensor.

 "Together with La Roche-Posay dermatologists like myself, we share a mission to help increase sun safe behavior," added Alysa Herman, M.D.

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