A Pilot Study on Iranian Skin Color

Accurate measurement of the human skin color is very important in many multidisciplinary applications such as medicine for diagnostic purposes and prostheses color matching, cosmetology for makeup and skin care, computer graphics for skin rendering, and computer vision for skin detection and tracking. It must be noted that in a previous study we found that the Iranian skin colors are not truly encompassed by the Pantone SkinTone Guide, so the present study was carried out. In this research, a pilot dataset of Iranian skin color was collected to analyze its properties due to the variations in different parameters which affect the skin color and also to compare Iranian skin color gamut with different international ethnicities. The skin spectral data for a group of 60 subjects were taken at three reference locations on the face: the forehead, the left cheek, and the right cheek. The measurements were done using a spectrophotometer after filling in a questionnaire consists of a consent form in addition to name, gender, age, parent ethnicities, and blood type of the individuals. Afterward, the spectral data were converted into L* (Lightness), a* (Redness) and b* (Yellowness) color coordinates. These coordinate values of skin colors were analyzed according to gender, age, body part, and blood type. The results showed variations in skin color due to gender, age, body part, and ethnicity differences. Iranian males are found to have a little darker and more reddish and yellowish skin than females, and it is reported that the age increase causes a decrease in lightness and yellowness and an increase in redness for the collected data. Moreover, cheeks are identified lighter and less reddish than foreheads. A comprehensive skin color gamut is presented for Iranian population which can be used to develop a national skin color guide.