L'Oréal Launches My Skin Track pH: The First Wearable Microfluidic Sensor for Personalized Skin Health Monitoring

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that L'Oréal unveiled its first wearable microfluidic sensor, My Skin Track pH, at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show. This is the first wearable sensor capable of easily measuring human skin pH levels, offering customized product solutions to help people better care for their skin.

At the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, My Skin Track pH was awarded “Best Innovation” in the wearable technology category. The sensor was jointly developed by L'Oréal and its skincare brand, La Roche-Posay. By working closely with dermatologists, La Roche-Posay develops safe and effective skincare products and is committed to delivering the benefits of scientific advancements directly to consumers.

Image source: L'Oréal official website

“Guive Balooch, Global Vice President of L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator and Head of L’Oréal Research, stated, ‘The scientific and medical communities have long recognized the correlation between skin pH levels and common skin conditions experienced by millions of people daily. Our aim is to leverage advanced technologies to provide consumers with meaningful insights into their skin, enabling them to identify products tailored to their individual needs.’”

The pH scale, ranging from acidic to alkaline, typically spans from 0 to 14. Healthy skin generally maintains a slightly acidic pH between 4.5 and 5.5. When the skin’s pH balance is disrupted—whether due to environmental factors or other underlying conditions—it can trigger inflammatory responses. Such reactions may initiate or exacerbate common skin issues, including dryness, eczema, and atopic dermatitis. According to statistics from the National Eczema Association, one in ten Americans (31.6 million) currently suffers from eczema.

My Skin Track pH is a compact, lightweight, and flexible sensor that represents the cutting-edge technology in personalized skincare from L'Oréal, the global leader in beauty. As the first wearable device to measure individual skin pH using microfluidic technology, it captures trace amounts of sweat from skin pores through a network of microchannels, providing accurate pH readings within 15 minutes.

Image source: L'Oréal official website

Previous methods for measuring skin pH required rigid electronic devices or large sweat samples, but My Skin Track pH can capture information from nearly imperceptible amounts of sweat and generate accurate pH readings.

My Skin Track pH delivers accurate pH readings in two simple steps:

First, the wearer places the sensor on the inner side of the arm and leaves it in place for 5–15 minutes until the two dots in the center change color.

Next, the wearer opens the My Skin Track pH app and takes a photo of the sensor. The app uses advanced algorithms to read the pH measurement and the wearer’s local sweat loss rate (the rate of sweat loss on the skin surface) to assess skin health and customize a La Roche-Posay product regimen to care for the skin and balance its pH level.

Image source: L'Oréal official website

My Skin Track pH is not only poised to become a mainstream consumer product in the future, but will also help L'Oréal advance its scientific research on skin and product development.

“pH is a key indicator of skin health. Many of my patients ask me about their skin pH, but until now, measuring skin pH outside of clinical settings has been highly challenging. This device has the potential to encourage consumers to adopt healthier skincare habits and provide healthcare professionals with scientifically grounded skincare solutions in novel ways,” said Professor Thomas Luger, Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Münster in Germany.

My Skin Track pH was co-developed by L'Oréal and Epicore Biosystems. Epicore Biosystems is an industry leader in microfluidic platforms and soft wearable sensors, with technology grounded in over two decades of research on microfluidics and soft materials conducted by Professor John Rogers’ laboratory at the Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics at Northwestern University and the Simpson Querrey Institute.

Previously, L'Oréal co-authored a research report with Northwestern University on the efficacy of microfluidics. My Skin Track pH will help L'Oréal further advance its existing research initiatives, which aim to explore the relationship between pH levels and various skin conditions.

It is anticipated that My Skin Track pH will be launched as early as 2019 through U.S. dermatologists affiliated with La Roche-Posay. Their objective is to accumulate new research findings and ultimately introduce direct-to-consumer products.