Research Consent Agreement

This Research Consent governs voluntary participation in ClaraVu research activities. It does not replace the ClaraVu Privacy Policy or Terms of Service, which continue to govern use of the ClaraVu platform.

1. Introduction

This Research Consent explains how ClaraVu may collect, use, store, and protect facial images and related information submitted for ClaraVu research activities.

Participation is voluntary. You are not required to submit facial images for research, and choosing not to participate will not affect your access to the ClaraVu platform or services.

This Research Consent is separate from ClaraVu’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Service continue to apply to your use of ClaraVu.

By submitting a research scan, you consent to ClaraVu using your submitted images, questionnaire responses, demographic responses, technical metadata, and related submission records as described in this Research Consent.

2. Purpose of the Research

ClaraVu is collecting research submissions to improve its scan capture process, image-quality validation, and computer vision workflows. This research may help ClaraVu evaluate lighting, pose, framing, blur, and other capture-quality factors across different users, devices, and environments.

The research may also support the development and validation of future cosmetic skincare progress-tracking features and machine learning models. The goal is to better understand how skin presentation varies across diverse users so ClaraVu can improve future non-medical skincare tracking tools.

3. Eligibility

Minimum age

Participants must be at least 18 years old.

Residency requirements

Participants must be residents of the United States or U.S. territories at the time of submission.

Exclusions

ClaraVu is currently limiting this research to United States and U.S. territory residents. Because facial images may be considered sensitive or biometric personal information, ClaraVu is not currently accepting research submissions from participants located outside the United States or U.S. territories.

Do not submit if you are under the age of 18.

Do not submit images of another person.

Do not submit if you are uncomfortable sharing facial images for research and product-improvement purposes.

Do not submit if you are seeking medical diagnosis, treatment, or emergency care. ClaraVu research is not medical care.

4. What Participation Involves

Participants will complete a one-time research submission. Participation involves:

Capturing or uploading one scan set made up of three facial photographs: front-facing image, left-angle image, and right-angle image.

Completing a short post-capture questionnaire about current skin concerns, self-reported skin conditions if provided, recent skin changes, related lifestyle context.

Answering optional demographic questions to help ClaraVu understand whether the scan capture process works across different users.

Reviewing and accepting the research consent before submitting.

The process is expected to take approximately 5 -10 minutes.

This study is currently a one-time submission. ClaraVu may invite participants to take part in future research opportunities, but future participation would be optional and would require a separate consent decision.

5. Information We Collect

Facial images

One scan set consisting of three facial photographs: front, left-angle, and right-angle images.

Questionnaire responses

Responses about skin type, skin concerns, recent skin changes, current skincare routine, and related lifestyle context.

Demographic Information

Optional demographic responses that help ClaraVu evaluate whether the scan capture process works across different users.

Technical & Device Information

Information about the device, browser or app environment, capture quality, image dimensions, pose, lighting, blur, framing, and related scan-quality metadata.

Submission records

Date and time of image capture, submission, consent decision, and withdrawal status if applicable.

6. How Your Information Will Be Used

ClaraVu will use submitted information to:

Store and process the research submission.

Review image quality and determine whether the submission meets study requirements.

Evaluate scan capture issues such as lighting, pose, framing, blur, and image consistency.

Organize, label, or categorize submissions for internal research and product-improvement purposes.

Develop, test, or validate future computer vision and machine learning models for non-medical cosmetic skincare progress-tracking.

Improve ClaraVu’s image capture workflow, quality validation, and future non-medical cosmetic skincare progress-tracking features.

This research is conducted separately from ClaraVu’s current in-app skin analysis experience. Submitted research data will not be used to generate a current medical diagnosis or individualized medical treatment recommendation.

7. Data Storage, Security, and Retention

Where information is stored.

Research submissions are stored using ClaraVu’s Supabase backend services. Facial images are stored in private Supabase Storage buckets. Related questionnaire responses, capture-quality metadata, consent records, and research eligibility records are stored in ClaraVu’s Supabase database.

Security measures

ClaraVu uses access controls, private storage buckets, row-level security policies, signed upload/download URLs, and server-side access controls to limit access to submitted data. Supabase states that customer data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 and encrypted in transit using TLS. Supabase Storage access is controlled through PostgreSQL Row Level Security policies. Research participant identifiers from external platforms are not stored directly when avoidable; ClaraVu may store keyed HMAC references or hashed withdrawal tokens instead of raw identifiers.

How long research data is retained.

Identifiable research data, including facial images, may be retained up to 3 years after submission unless the participant withdraws earlier or deletion is otherwise required. This retention period allows ClaraVu to review submission quality, develop annotation workflows, improve scan capture, and evaluate product performance.

When it is deleted.

If a participant withdraws research permission or requests deletion, ClaraVu will delete or remove the applicable research images and directly associated research records from active systems within a reasonable period, unless retention is required for legal, security, or audit purposes. Backup copies may persist temporarily according to Supabase backup and recovery processes.

Whether de-identified data may be retained longer

ClaraVu may retain aggregated data, derived measurements, labels, quality statistics, or other records that no longer directly identify a participant for product improvement, research documentation, or internal analysis.

8. Risks

Participation involves the following risks:

Facial images are inherently identifiable and may be considered sensitive personal information.

Although ClaraVu uses safeguards to protect submitted data, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

There is a risk of unauthorized access, disclosure, or loss of confidentiality despite security measures.

Some participants may feel uncomfortable submitting facial images or answering skincare/demographic questions.

ClaraVu’s research tools are for product improvement and are not medical diagnosis, treatment, or professional healthcare advice.

9. Benefits

Participants may not receive a direct personal benefit from participating.

Participation may help ClaraVu improve future versions of its scan capture process, image-quality validation, and non-medical cosmetic skincare progress-tracking features. Participation may also support future development and validation of computer vision or machine learning tools.

10. Voluntary Participation

Participation is voluntary. Choosing not to participate will not affect access to the ClaraVu platform or any ClaraVu services.

Participants may stop at any point before submitting. Information is recorded only after the participant submits the research form. After submission, participants may request withdrawal or deletion according to the withdrawal instructions.

Withdrawal

How do participants withdraw?

Participants may withdraw permission for research use at any time by using the withdrawal link or withdrawal code provided after submission. Mobile app users may withdraw research permission for a scan from Scan History. Participants may also contact ClaraVu support at research@claravu.com or by submitting a contact form at https://claravu.com/contact for help with withdrawal or deletion requests.

What happens after withdrawal?

After withdrawal, ClaraVu will stop using the withdrawn submission for future research review, dataset selection, annotation, model training, and product-improvement research. If the submission has not yet been incorporated into a research dataset, ClaraVu will remove it from eligible research data.

What happens to stored images and records

ClaraVu will delete or disable access to the submitted facial images and directly associated questionnaire responses, capture metadata, and research-consent record from active research systems within a reasonable period, unless retention is required for legal, security, fraud-prevention, or audit purposes.

What happens to aggregated research or trained models?

Withdrawal may not remove information that has already been combined into aggregated statistics, quality benchmarks, internal reports, or machine learning models trained before the withdrawal request. ClaraVu will not intentionally include the withdrawn submission in new training datasets after withdrawal.

What happens to future data collection

Withdrawing one submission does not automatically prevent a participant from making a new submission later. Any future submission would require a new consent decision.

11. Contact Information

Participants may contact ClaraVu about research questions, withdrawal requests, deletion requests, or privacy concerns by:

Using the contact form at https://claravu.com/contact

Emailing ClaraVu at research@claravu.com

For withdrawal requests, participants should include their withdrawal link, withdrawal code, or other submission reference if available. Do not include sensitive information in the message unless needed to identify the submission.

12. Consent Statement

“By checking the consent box and submitting this form, I confirm that:

I have read and understood this Research Consent.

I understand that participation is voluntary.

I consent to ClaraVu collecting, storing, analyzing, and using my submitted research data as described in this Research Consent.

I understand I may withdraw my participation as described in this document.”