SkinVision App Turns Your Smartphone Into A Skin Cancer Scanner

There are so many apps to help us monitor our health these days. Some of them are even used by doctors to improve the quality of our heathcare. It’s no surprise that the lifespan of human beings is increasing almost as fast as technology itself. I would like to share with you another app that was designed to help us monitor our heath (although it’s not to be used as a replacement for a doctor). It’s an app that turns your smartphone into a skin cancer scanner.

It’s called SkinVision, and since this is an app with a lot of science and research behind it (it was also a finalist in the 2013 INDEX Awards), I wanted to take a closer look at it. It was designed in collaboration with dermatologists, and its purpose is to allow users a mobile way to track their skin health and UV exposure.

The way it works is simple. The app first determines your skin type and local UV index. Then, you take a photo of any moles or other skin lesions of concern. You will basically be using your smartphone like a skin cancer scanner. At that point, the app will be able to determine what kind of mole is in your picture. Again, this is not to replace a doctor visit. It’s just a way to check any concerns in a quick and easy way before you’re able to schedule a doctor’s visit.

Since the SkinVision database has more than 100,000 moles in it (4,000 of which have been reviewed more than once by a dermatologist), it’s pretty comprehensive. Their algorithm takes into consideration the fractal dimensions of the skin lesion and the surrounding tissue. If it seems abnormal, the user is alerted immediately. The algorithm is constantly being improved upon, and the developers of this app want it to become even better than it is now.

If you would like to turn your own smartphone into a mobile skin cancer scanner, you can pick SkinVision up on iTunes or Google Play.