Prediction of ovulation and menses by mㅁonitoring the skin melanin and erythema index changes during the menstrual cycle

Abstract

Women predict and record their menstrual cycles in a variety of ways. It is an important issue to plan a family or to improve the quality of daily life. Methods for detecting ovulation include predictor kits, basal body temperature, using digital devices, blood collection, and transvaginal ultrasonography. Most of the currently available methods are based on basal body temperature detection and hormone analysis. Women experience two estrogen hormone peaks during menstrual cycles and a rise in basal body temperature in the ovulation period. In this study, we assumed that skin condition is affected by estrogen hormone changes. We verify whether the skin condition is actually affected by hormonal changes, and examine it can be used to predict ovulation and menstrual periods by identifying the period by basal body temperature change and monitoring the change of skin melanin and erythema indices. In this experiment, we developed an imaging system with a white light LED to measure the three locations of the face and calculate the melanin and erythema index through imaging processing. We extracted the red and green components from the images of the subjects for 35 days, monitored how the values changed during the cycle, and compared the correlations with the individual's basal body temperature. As a result, four out of six subjects in the BBT showed a rise in temperature near the ovulation phase, with one subject remaining low during the menstruation phase. In the case of melanin index, the changes in the forehead of one subject were similar to the change in body temperature and both of the cheeks of one subject were elevated in the ovulation phase. In the erythema index case, three subjects appeared to rise near the ovulation and one subject was observed to drop in the menstruation phase. In summary, most of the subjects showed BBT changes that correspond to their cycle, but melanin and erythema indices were hard to find correlations between body temperature and menstrual cycle except in a few cases. In further work, to obtain a more accurate value, it is better to use a specific wavelength rather than a white light source. In order to detect very small skin changes, it would be good to observe various systems such as the spectroscopy system at the same time. In addition, measurements of different body parts for more than a month in more subjects will help more effectively monitor the changes that occur in a particular period of time.