Assessment of Quality and Utility of Patient-Taken Smartphone Photographs of Atopic Dermatitis: Clinical Survey Study

TL;DR

This study shows that patients with atopic dermatitis often take high-quality smartphone photos of their skin lesions to share with doctors, which could help track their condition remotely.

Contribution

The study demonstrates the practical use of patient-taken smartphone photos for clinical evaluation of atopic dermatitis.

Findings

85% of patient-taken smartphone photographs were of good quality.

86% of the photographs were deemed useful for diagnostic and clinical evaluation.

Patients receiving topical monotherapy were more likely to take skin lesion photographs.

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) has a relapsing and remitting nature, and scheduled clinic visits only provide a snapshot of the skin condition at the moment.

This study aimed to investigate the quality of patient-taken smartphone photographs of AD skin lesions and characterize patients using smartphone photographs as a tool to assist the physician to show disease activity in between consultations.

Patients from 2 university outpatient clinics specialized in AD were surveyed. A questionnaire regarding digital readiness was completed, and a previously taken skin lesion photograph on the patients’ own smartphone was evaluated.

Between February 2024 and September 2024, a total of 100 questionnaires were completed, 60 (60%) by participants from the capital region of Denmark and 40 (40%) by participants from an urban area, including 62 (62%) men and 38 (38%) women. The mean age of the recruited patients was 33.9 (SD 19.9) years. A total of 78% (78/100) of the patients used a desktop computer, laptop, or tablet often or always, and 86% (86/100) corresponded with the health care system using technology (eg, via email to the general practitioner or contact with hospitals via apps). More than 50% (52/100, 52%) strongly agreed or agreed with the statement that they would prefer a remote online visit with, for example, upload of skin lesion photographs over a routine in-person office visit. Almost 3 out of 4 patients had a photograph of their AD skin lesion on their smartphone, most (38/71, 54%) with the sole intention of presenting it to a physician. The photographs were of good quality in 85% (60/71) of the cases, and most (61/71, 86%) of the smartphone photographs were assessed to be useful for diagnostic and clinical evaluation. Receiving topical monotherapy was significantly associated with increased risk of having taken a skin lesion smartphone photograph (P=.006).

Patients with AD followed up on in an outpatient clinic often took good-quality photographs of their skin lesions before consultations with the intention of presenting them to the physician.