The User-Generated Web-Based Dermoscopy Image Archive of the International Dermoscopy Society: A Contribution to E-Learning and Exchange of Knowledge

The Remote Assessment of Melanocytic Skin Lesions: A Viable Alternative to Face-to-Face Consultation

“…While the prognosis for patients with advanced disease remains poor, melanoma can be cured if treated early [3,4,5,6,7]. Dermatologists and other health professionals have therefore promoted a number of strategies to increase the rates of early detection of melanoma [7,8], including, but not limited to: educational campaigns about sun safety [9] and the importance of skin self-examination (SSE) [10], a user-generated web-based dermoscopy image archive as a contribution to E-learning and exchange of knowledge [11], regular screening examinations by primary health care physicians or dermatologists, and the application of innovative clinical tools such as dermoscopy and total body imaging [8,9,10,11,12,13]. …”

“…Motivated by the documented successes of teledermatology [11,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24], by recent advances in the image quality of mobile-phone cameras, by the high rates of mobile-phone ownership within Australia, and by high rates of melanoma self-detection [25], here we investigate the practicality and utility of a novel clinical tool, the implementation of which has the ultimate aim of increasing the rates of early detection of melanoma: the remote diagnosis of melanocytic lesions using patient-generated clinical images obtained by mobile-phone cameras. Our hypothesis is that patient-motivated remote diagnosis of melanocytic lesions could be a viable alternative to conventional patient-motivated face-to-face (FTF) assessments.…”