## 3 Results and Discussion
### Skin Parameter Estimation
#### 3.4.2 Analysis of the Skin Topography Parameters  
Analysis of the skin topography permits the non-invasive and comprehensive characterization of the skin surface on the basis of the distribution of the levels of grey in a photograph of a given area of the skin surface [36; 40]. The analysis provides information on the homogeneity of the epidermis and general condition of the skin related to the degree of wrinkling and moisturization of the stratum corneum [40]. The first group of skin topography parameters are the SELS ones: (i) SEr (roughness) evaluated on the basis of the dark pixels in the image, corresponding to the wrinkles and furrows in the skin; (ii) SEsm (smoothness) evaluated on the basis of the uniform character of the image, which is the degree of differences in the levels of grey in the image; and (iii) SEsc (scallenses) related to the number of white pixels in the image interpreted as the sites on the skin with a reduced moisturization degree [41; 42]. The second group of skin texture parameters are energy NRJ and homogeneity HOM describing the general condition and homogeneity of the skin surface, calculated on the basis of the analysis of repetitions of color combinations in neighboring pixels and differences between the levels of grey [41; 42; 43; 44]. Figure 4 presents the averaged changes in the skin topography parameters (expressed in %) noted between day 0 and day 30. The expected desirable direction of changes in SELS parameters was observed only for macroemulsion 2. After 4 weeks of application of this cosmetic product, the parameter SEr decreased by 17.4% (\(p<0.05\)), proving the effectiveness of macroemulsion 2 as an anti-aging cosmetic, reducing visible wrinkles and furrows. The parameters SEsm and SEsc decreased by 22.1% and 10.3% (\(p<0.05\)), \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**TEWL 2 [g/h-m2]**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**HYDRATION [CM 3]**} \\ \hline
**Week** & **Macroemulsion 1** & **Macroemulsion 2** & **Macroemulsion 1** & **Macroemulsion 2** \\ \hline
0 & 16.28 \(\pm\) 4.67 & 11.48 \(\pm\) 4.28 & 52.62 \(\pm\) 8.25 & 30.07 \(\pm\) 7.85 \\ \hline
1 & 17.03 \(\pm\) 1.57 & 12.44 \(\pm\) 1.69 & 51.68 \(\pm\) 9.53 & 41.73 \(\pm\) 11.11 \\ \hline
2 & 13.61 \(\pm\) 1.20 & 12.38 \(\pm\) 1.46 & 53.10 \(\pm\) 7.14 & 48.06 \(\pm\) 13.45 \\ \hline
3 & 15.96 \(\pm\) 1.46 & 10.69 \(\pm\) 1.54 & 52.14 \(\pm\) 7.28 & 46.14 \(\pm\) 9.04 \\ \hline
4 & 15.21 \(\pm\) 1.56 & 10.60 \(\pm\) 1.57 & 56.34 \(\pm\) 5.95 & 51.89 \(\pm\) 9.77 \\ \hline \(\Delta\)\% & \(-\)6.6 & \(-\)7.7 & 7.1 & 72.6 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{\dagger}\)SD: standard deviation,2 TEWL: transepidermal water loss; 3 CM: arbitrary units of skin hydration.  
\end{table} 
Table 1: Changes in the basic skin parameters measured during the application tests (data are expressed as mean \(\pm\) SD 1 and as percentage change \(\Delta\)%). confirming the strong moisturizing properties of this macroemulsion. As far as the other parameters are concerned, statistically significant changes were noted only in NRJ whose value increased by over 13% (\(p<0.05\)), evidencing an improvement in the general skin condition. The reduction in HOM amounted to 0.6%, so was statistically insignificant. The results of the 4-week application of macroemulsion 1 (face cream) revealed its undesirable effect on the skin topography parameters. The parameters SEr and SEsm increased by 5.7% and 34.1%, respectively (\(p<0.05\)), so changed in the undesired direction. The desired increase in SEsc by about 0.1% did not compensate for the above negative effect of the preparation and confirmed the much weaker moisturizing effect of macroemulsion 1 than 2. The value of NRJ showed an undesired 25% decrease (\(p<0.05\)), which was consistent with the negative change in SEsm. No statistically significant change was noted in the HOM after the 4-week application test.