Metamerism of Three Different Pigments for Facial Prostheses and a Method to Improve Shade Evaluation

Purpose: To assess the illuminant metamerism of three different pigments used for maxillofacial prostheses under three different illumination sources and to standardize subjective shadematching and observation protocols. Materials and Methods: Nine silicone shade tabs were constructed for three volunteers who had light, medium, and dark skin tones using make-up, oil paint, or silicone pigments (three shade tabs per volunteer). A shade recipe was recorded during session one, and further tabs were constructed by following the recipe at two subsequent sessions. Using an observation protocol, expert examiners rated the shade match under three different illuminants. Results: The intra-rater and inter-rater reliability revealed acceptable reliability (ICC > 0.6). Two-way analysis of variance revealed significant differences (P .05) for pigments and illuminants and for the interaction of pigments with illuminant on the raters' scores. Conclusion: Illuminant metamerism affected the appearance of the silicone shade tabs. Oil paint with fluorescent or incandescent illumination had the worst effect. It was found possible to construct a consistent shade guide and to recommend an observation protocol, which should be repeatable if similarly experienced examiners are used.