Patent ID: 7811232

Claim:
A system for characterizing skin condition, the system comprising: a spreadable indicator suitable for application to human skin, the indicator being reactive to at least one substance secreted by human skin so that the spreadable indicator visually changes color or color intensity in response to reacting with the at least one substance, wherein a degree of visual change of color or color intensity of the indicator is representative of the amount of oil in contact with the indicator; and a reference relating a plurality of possible visual changes of color or color intensity of the indicator to a plurality of skin conditions so as to enable a comparison of the reference to the visual change of the indicator to characterize a skin condition of human skin due to the amount of the oil in contact with the indicator, wherein the indicator comprises at least one dye soluble with oil found on human skin to effect the visual change of the indicator and wherein the at least one dye comprises at least one Drug and Cosmetics colorant from the group consisting of violet 2, yellow 11, and red 17.