Abstract: A new type of infrared reflectance device is disclosed to provide a quantitative evaluation of skin pallor. The instrument is designed to produce a measurement proportional to the percentage of infrared reflectance of the skin. In one embodiment, it consists of a miniature GaAs light emitting diode, which provides a pulsed infrared light source, a silicon photodiode detector, and processing circuitry. The device electronics are temperature compensated and are designed to respond only to the pulsed component of the detector output and to reject components due to stray light from external sources. The wavelength is chosen such that the measurement is relatively insensitive to the level of blood oxygenation and melanin pigment in the skin.