{
  "id": 150796,
  "title": "Skin-like test models could help improve medical devices for people of all skin tones",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/04/skin-like-test-models-could-help-improve-medical-devices-for-people",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-04T23:00:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-skin-medical-devices-people-tones.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "A recent study published in the Journal of Biomedical Optics has developed realistic skin-like test models to improve the accuracy of medical devices and wearable health sensors for people of all skin tones. These optical phantoms, which mimic the outer skin layer, deeper tissue, and underlying fat, include artificial blood vessels with flowing blood-like fluid to simulate blood flow beneath the skin. Researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland found that the darker the skin model, the more difficult it became to detect blood-related signals through the skin layers. This mirrors a real-world challenge for optical medical devices, as increased pigmentation can make it harder for light to penetrate blood vessels, potentially affecting measurement accuracy. By providing a realistic testing platform, these new phantoms could help device developers identify and reduce such biases during product design and validation, ultimately promoting health care equity and patient safety.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}