Recent articles reporting racial bias in pulse oximeter performance in clinical studies have highlighted the need for well-validated, objective approaches for assessing skin pigmentation. Highly effective objective measurements of skin color will require not only the use of well-validated melanometers, but also optimized methods for implementation. Therefore, we identify Best Practices for melanometer use that can be widely applied in pulse oximeter clinical studies. Additionally, given the variety of acquisition, processing approaches and metrics currently employed in melanometers, we discuss standardization of device performance and outputs as well as use of pigmented tissue mimicking phantoms for performance evaluation.
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