Quantitative Morphological and Biochemical Studies on Human Downy Hairs using 3-D Quantitative Phase Imaging

This study presents the morphological and biochemical findings on human downy arm hairs using 3-D quantitative phase imaging techniques. 3-D refractive index tomograms and high-resolution 2-D synthetic aperture images of individual downy arm hairs were measured using a Mach-Zehnder laser interferometric microscopy equipped with a two-axis galvanometer mirror. From the measured quantitative images, the biochemical and morphological parameters of downy hairs were non-invasively quantified including the mean refractive index, volume, cylinder, and effective radius of individual hairs. In addition, the effects of hydrogen peroxide on individual downy hairs were investigated.