Effectiveness evaluating method, effectiveness evaluating device, and effectiveness evaluating program for external preparation for skin

An effectiveness evaluating device which evaluates effectiveness of an external preparation for skin for protection against ultraviolet irradiation after the external preparation is applied to the skin, comprising:

• a measurement part to measure an amount of urocanic acid in a horny cell layer by Raman spectroscopy both before and after the application of the external preparation and both before and after exposure to ultraviolet irradiation;
• an index derivation part to compute at least one index for evaluating the effectiveness of the external preparation, based on results of the measurement obtained by the measurement part;
• and
• an evaluation part to evaluate the effectiveness of the external preparation by using the at least one index obtained by the index derivation part.

An effectiveness evaluating program which evaluates effectiveness of an external preparation for skin for protection against ultraviolet irradiation after the external preparation is applied to the skin, and, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform:

• a measurement step of measuring an amount of urocanic acid in a horny cell layer both before and after the application of the external preparation by Raman spectroscopy, which amount has changed by exposure to ultraviolet irradiation;
• an index derivation step of computing at least one index for evaluating the effectiveness of the external preparation, based on results of the measurement obtained in the measurement step;
• and
• an evaluation step of evaluating the effectiveness of the external preparation by using the at least one index obtained in the index derivation step.