Patients suffering from eczema may find it easier to monitor their skin condition through the latest artificial intelligence (AI)that can analyse its severity by using the uploaded photo.
According to research published in the journal Allergy, the AI demonstrated high diagnostic precision in analysing eczema shown in symptom photos uploaded by patients using their cameras.
A senior researcher and assistant professor of dermatology at Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Dr. Takeya Adachi, stated, “Many patients with eczema struggle to evaluate their disease severity on their own.”
“Our AI model allows for objective, real-time tracking using just a smartphone, empowering patients and potentially improving disease management,” Adachi added.
What is eczema?
Eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, is a chronic inflammatory skin condition characterised by inflammation, dryness, and itchiness.
The actual cause of eczema is still unknown; however, it is believed to occur due to environmental, immunological, and genetic factors.
For the new AI, researchers collected data from an eczema tracking app, known as, Atopiyo. It gathered data from up to 28,000 users who have shared more than 57,000 symptom photos and personal comments since 2018.
The research team developed the AI to assess eczema severity depending on its location, rash size, and more.
The AI was trained on 880 photos with self-reported itch scores before researchers experimented with efficiency on another set of 220 photos.
In the test, the AI accurately identified 98% of body parts and 100% of eczema areas, and its analysis correlated well with severity levels from board-certified dermatologists, researchers stated.
“The AI model developed in this study has the potential to help patients with [eczema] objectively assess their skin condition, facilitating timely and appropriate treatment,” researchers concluded.
Furthermore, researchers are planning to train the AI by integrating more skin types and age ranges, and including cutting-edge features from other clinical scoring systems for eczema.
