Researchers from Kao Corporation have completed tests which confirm the regulation of capillary blood flow is linked with skin beauty.
During testing, the Japanese beauty company discovered women in their twenties and thirties with high blood flow regulatory function tended to have better skin textures and patterns.
Meanwhile, women in their fifties and sixties with higher blood flow regulatory function had smaller cell sizes in the stratum corneum.
Normally large cell size is common in aged skin and is indicative of slower cell turnover, resulting in duller and older looking skin.
In order to study its results further, the company has developed its own image technology to visually capture capillaries with high precision under a microscope.
To do this, images of the capillaries inside the skin were divided into separate components of haemoglobin, melanin and shade.
Filter processing was then applied to the haemoglobin images to visually determine the capillaries based on their tubular structure.
Using this method, Kao was able to construct an algorithm to precisely determine the capillaries in microscopic images.
Kao has said it plans to study the change in condition of the blood vessels brought about by ageing and the environment in order to analyse the effects on skin variations, such as metabolism, dark spots and fine lines.
Being only one cell thick, the capillaries are the smallest blood vessels in the body and there are different types.
Continuous capillaries allow gases, water, sugar and some hormones to pass through, except for in the brain.
Fenestrated capillaries contain small pores to exchange larger molecules and are found in the small intestine and kidneys.
Meanwhile, sinusoid capillaries allow larger molecules, even cells, to pass through the capillary wall.
There are an estimated ten billion capillaries in the human body and lined up in single file, they would stretch to more than 100,000 miles, according to Verywell Health.