How Esenca Delivered Clinical-Grade Accuracy for Essity’s Compression Therapy Sizing
How Esenca Delivered Clinical-Grade Accuracy for
Essity’s Compression Therapy Sizing
The Challenge
Essity is a leading global hygiene and health company, specialising in innovative products such as compression therapy socks for conditions like lymphedema, lipedema, and venous disorders. Essity sells compression socks both online and in real medical stores, but appropriate size has historically been a major issue. Online consumers must select their size using simply a size chart, although compression socks are elastic garments meant to apply varied pressure levels at different heights of the leg, highest at the ankle and diminishing steadily up the leg.
This complexity makes it incredibly difficult for consumers to choose the appropriate size on their own, especially since compression items are often non-returnable. In physical stores, technicians measure customers manually, but a benchmark study conducted with Essity revealed that even trained professionals produced highly inconsistent results: five expert measurers recorded differences of up to 3-4 cm in the same participant’s ankle, calf, and knee measurements. These inconsistencies demonstrate how susceptible manual measuring is to human error. At the same time, many customers find it difficult to travel to a pharmacy or medical store simply to be measured, creating accessibility barriers and raising the risk of mis-sizing.
The Challenge
Essity is a leading global hygiene and health company, specialising in innovative products such as compression therapy socks for conditions like lymphedema, lipedema, and venous disorders. Essity sells compression socks both online and in real medical stores, but appropriate size has historically been a major issue. Online consumers must select their size using simply a size chart, although compression socks are elastic garments meant to apply varied pressure levels at different heights of the leg, highest at the ankle and diminishing steadily up the leg.
This complexity makes it incredibly difficult for consumers to choose the appropriate size on their own, especially since compression items are often non-returnable. In physical stores, technicians measure customers manually, but a benchmark study conducted with Essity revealed that even trained professionals produced highly inconsistent results: five expert measurers recorded differences of up to 3-4 cm in the same participant’s ankle, calf, and knee measurements. These inconsistencies demonstrate how susceptible manual measuring is to human error. At the same time, many customers find it difficult to travel to a pharmacy or medical store simply to be measured, creating accessibility barriers and raising the risk of mis-sizing.
The Method
To validate the improvements researched and developed for Essity, Esenca carefully benchmarked the custom measurement system with datasets provided directly by Essity. These datasets were derived from several controlled trials in which subjects were measured under ideal conditions, both manually by five independent professional measurers and digitally using Esenca and high-precision 3D scanners. Participants in the experiments included individuals with healthy legs as well as those with legs affected by medical conditions that cause oedema or deformity. This process guaranteed that the improved algorithms were evaluated on a real-world, clinically relevant variation, reflecting the wide range of scenarios seen in compression-therapy operations.
In parallel, Esenca continues to advance relevant technologies tied to its fundamental measurement technology. This task involved creating the Magic Mirror, a booth-based scanning system for efficient on-site measurement, as well as a technician-assisted measurement flow in which a pharmacy professional runs the device with the back camera to ensure maximum accuracy. In addition, Esenca created a prototype 3D-scanning setup with four ZED depth cameras to investigate high-precision geometric capture for future applications.
The Method
To validate the improvements researched and developed for Essity, Esenca carefully benchmarked the custom measurement system with datasets provided directly by Essity. These datasets were derived from several controlled trials in which subjects were measured under ideal conditions, both manually by five independent professional measurers and digitally using Esenca and high-precision 3D scanners. Participants in the experiments included individuals with healthy legs as well as those with legs affected by medical conditions that cause oedema or deformity. This process guaranteed that the improved algorithms were evaluated on a real-world, clinically relevant variation, reflecting the wide range of scenarios seen in compression-therapy operations.
In parallel, Esenca continues to advance relevant technologies tied to its fundamental measurement technology. This task involved creating the Magic Mirror, a booth-based scanning system for efficient on-site measurement, as well as a technician-assisted measurement flow in which a pharmacy professional runs the device with the back camera to ensure maximum accuracy. In addition, Esenca created a prototype 3D-scanning setup with four ZED depth cameras to investigate high-precision geometric capture for future applications.
The Results
Esenca’s improvements and validation cycles resulted in an average circumference fluctuation of ±3 mm when measuring the same person repeatedly, indicating remarkable repeatability and stability. Furthermore, 91.4% of all circumference measures had an absolute error of less than 0.75 cm, which met Essity’s rigorous accuracy standards for clinical-grade compression products.
Accurate sizing is absolutely critical in compression therapy, yet even trained professionals struggle with consistency. Esenca’s measurement technology has change how we approach accurate measurement and therapy. Esenca delivers repeatable and reliable results with an average fluctuation of only ±3 mm – a level of stability no manual method has ever come close to.
This breakthrough has allowed us to raise the standard care for lymphedema and lipedema treatments. Together, Essity and Esenca set new benchmarks for precision in our industry, our partnership has been instrumental in elevating the way Essity supports patients worldwide.
Andreas Nadorow
Lead Product Developer at Essity
