L'Oreal Debuts New Smart Technology For Your Skin

By SheSpeaksTeam Jan 12, 2016

If you consider protecting yourself from the dangers of UV exposure to be part of your skin care regime, then L’Oreal’s new smart skin patch may interest you.The skin care company is debuting the ‘My UV Patch’ in 16 countries later on this year for free. The wearable patch will allow users to have some warning when their skin begins to get too much sun exposure.

The BBC reports about the UV patch that changes colors when the wearer has exposed their skin to a dangerous amount of UV rays. The patch is small, measuring only about 1 square inch, and can be worn for up to 5 days anywhere on the body that is exposed to sun.

In order to see the levels of UV your skin is being exposed to, the user must snap a photo of the patch and upload that to the MY UV Patch app. Though getting the results this way make them a more accurate measure of your UV exposure over time, it may be a nuisance to users who must take that extra step to snap a photo and download to an app rather than read results straight off the patch. Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at the KWP Comtech research firm says, “I wonder if rather than seeing the cumulative impact in an app I would prefer to be alerted when my UV exposure will cause sun burn or worse.”

And though there are other wearable items like jewelry and wrist bands that meaure UV on the market, L’Oreal says there’s is the first to allow users to reuse the flexible sticker for days and days. Global vice president of L'Oréal's Technology Incubator Guive Balooch explains, “Stickers on the market today go from white to blue in minutes, and then that's it. You can use ours for days and days.”

Balooch believes that the new technology will help everyday users as well as enhance L’Oreal’s ability to create new skin care products using the patch as a testing method. Balooch says, “Why would L'Oreal be interested in this? When you think about our products, the people apply them all over their body. Being able to have this technology to measure properties of the skin in real life anywhere you want allows us to develop really new testing methods for future products.”

What do you think of this patch that measures your UV exposure?

Would you be interested in trying out a patch like this?

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Comments

by casecreations | CINCINNATUS, NY

Feb 18, 2016

I'd give it a try.

by Patlynn | STATE COLLEGE, PA

Feb 18, 2016

I definitely am interested in trying this patch.

by Jennyfr | FOND DU LAC, WI

Feb 17, 2016

I'm not sure how I feel about this patch because what if you are in an area without any WiFi access? How could you possibly upload a picture while still trying to enjoy your time outside? If you have to go inside or home then that kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it? I think this will be about as popular as the self tests you can purchase to see if you are sober enough to drive.

by 2carrie2 | GRAND RAPIDS, MI

Jan 25, 2016

I think it is a great idea and more and more people are getting skin cancer. I would love to have this patch because it will help me keep better care of my skin and that is also reusable.

by bethielutz692 | FEEDING HILLS, MA

Jan 21, 2016

Sounds like a great idea. I would like to read some reviews on it.

by ezrasmom | Lutherville, MD

Jan 17, 2016

I'd really like a patch like this. I've had skin cancer. It's no fun it's scary. I have the scar to prove it. I wear sunscreen each day on my face not so much on my body during the colder months. This patch will let me know if I should be wearing sunscreen on my exposed areas all year long.

by mmiller1118 | CULLOM, IL

Jan 17, 2016

yes i would like to try it but in the same sense it seems like it would be such a pain to be out in the sun having fun and then have to stop and take a pic and upload that somewhere and all the extra steps that it is gonna take to do this. the initial idea seemed good at first but i dont see any teens out having fun stopping and remembering to check this at certain times and doing all these extra steps to be sun healthy. Especially if they have to keep rechecking it off and on to make sure with all the extras steps you have to take, an adult will do it but a kid i dont think will. Concept is good though.

by basilandcatnip | GARLAND, TX

Jan 15, 2016

I like the idea, especially for people at outdoor events or prone to cancers or even drug sensitive people. The app seems like a lot of work but it could make it worth it if it tracked the data and you could print it out over time for MD. I'd try it but prefer just looking at the patch as seeing results.

by nmcreel | Madison, AL

Jan 12, 2016

I think its interesting. I'm not really sure how many people would use this to be completely honest. I think it might turn into a fad. But perhaps not for those with fair-skin this might be useful on a vacation in the tropical type climates.