Medical photography using mobile devices

Covid-19 has accelerated the use of medical photography, with many specialist services requesting it as part of the referral process.

Poor quality images may lead to misinterpretation and a delay in diagnosis or treatment, but training in medical photography for clinicians and patients is limited.

Ways to improve the quality of images captured with mobile devices include taking both overview and close-up images, increasing light, and holding devices at an appropriate distance from the subject.

Despite widespread use of mobile devices for medical photography, there is a distinct lack of published resources offering technical and practical advice to help clinicians and patients take images of a suitable quality for clinical use. Since covid-19, however, specialties such as dermatology and wound care now consider photographs a mandatory part of the referral pathway, and a basic understanding of medical photography principles has quickly become a requirement for many clinicians. Similarly, many patients now send images to their healthcare provider as part of a “virtual consultation.” Clinicians need to understand not only how to take good medical photographs in the consulting room, but also how to support their patients to do this remotely.

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