Evaluation of digital skin images submitted by patients who received practical training or an online tutorial

Abstract

We evaluated the ability of subjects to capture and submit teledermatology images with a digital camera. We also examined whether participants who received individual training sessions would capture better-quality images than participants who were provided only with self-training. Fifty participants were randomized between in-person training and self-training via an online tutorial. The majority of participants were young, well educated women. Two dermatologists reading the images for quality indicators had high agreement that digital images acquired were of high quality: images were well framed, appropriately bright, in focus and did not have a shadow. There was moderate agreement on diagnosis-related indicators, such as the presence or absence of pustules or papules and acne versus rosacea. There was no difference in the image-quality attributes between participants personally trained and those trained with the online tutorial. Subjects participating in this study were able to acquire images of good quality, irrespective of whether they received practical training or used an online tutorial.