Millimetre wave radiometers for medical diagnostics of human skin

A technique to measure the human skin emissivity in vivo is described for the frequency band 80-100 GHz. Emissivity measurements were performed on 60 participants, 35 males and 25 females, with ages ranging from 20 to 60 years. Results show that the emissivity of males is higher than that of females. The study suggests a trend in the emissivities with age and gender, which might be due to variations of skin thickness and water content. As non-contact screening is desirable in medical applications, passive millimeter-wave sensing could be a means of achieving this in the diagnosis of skin disease or damage, where the disease/damage alters the water content or the skin thickness.