CES 2016: L'Oreal unveils ultra-thin smart skin patch

French cosmetics and beauty giant L'Oreal displayed an ultra-thin smart skin patch at CES in Las Vegas. The company claims that the My UV patch will be able to track users' exposure to harmful UV rays.

Although the beauty giant has made the smart skin patch public at the technology show, the product is yet to be launched. The company has reportedly announced that it will be made available for free, once it has been launched this summer. The smart patch is due to be launched in 16 countries, including the UK in 2016, reports the BBC.

The patch has been developed by a team of 25 scientists, based in different parts of the world, including cities like Paris, Singapore and New York. In order to accurately measure the levels of exposure, those who wear the patch must first take a picture of it and upload it to an app.

The My UV patch has been designed to incorporate a photosensitive blue dye, which changes colour on exposure to ultraviolet light. It is also believed to last around five days and can be worn on any part of the body. The disposable patch has been developed such that it is thinner than a plaster.

L'Oreal maintains that although there may be other UV detecting products available in the market, My UV patch is the first flexible wearable to be made available to consumers. The global vice president of the company, Guive Balooch commented on the validity of the product stating: "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."

However, Balooch has cautioned that the patch is not to be confused with a reminder to re-apply sunscreen. Rather, the technology is only meant at measuring exposure of the skin to potentially harmful UV rays.

Carolina Milanesi, the chief of research at the KWP Comtech research firm opined that while the concept of a UV-detecting technological product is "pretty amazing", there might be some concerns as to the convenience of use for consumers. Milanesi claimed that the process of taking a picture and uploading onto an app to measure UV exposure may prove to be inconvenient or frustrating for some consumers.