New Smartphone App Helps Fight Skin Cancer

Doctor Mole - a new smartphone application checks for signs of skin cancer. The new smartphone app checks moles for irregularities in size, shape, colour and border.

After taking a picture of a mole, the user is presented with a colour-coded 'risk' level for each of these characteristics.

Skin Cancer - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Skin cancer is an abnormal growth of skin cells. It can develop due to a continuous exposure to sun over the years.

The app can archive and compare data to check for any changes in a mole and will also remind the user when it's time to check a mole again.

Changes in moles are a common sign of malignant melanoma, one of the three main types of skin cancer. Melanoma can also develop in normal-looking skin.

Although less common than basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma causes the majority of deaths from skin cancer. It is mainly caused by exposure to UV rays.

Melanoma - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment & Prevention
Melanoma of the skin is a dangerous type of skin cancer that usually appears as a cancerous mole due to exposure to the sun’s damaging UV rays.

"I have already had 3 basal cell carcinomas removed from my neck, face and back, and at my age this is very rare. So I have pretty much seen first hand the dangers of the sun. That's where the idea for Doctor Mole came from," the Daily Mail quoted Mark Shippen, the developer of Doctor Mole from Australia, as saying.

"I don't have a background in medicine, but when I found my first cancer a few years back I pretty much read everything about it and had a solid understanding of what to look for. Then it was just a simple case of combining the knowledge I had gained with my software development skills, and DoctorMole was created," he said.

Quiz on Skin
How much do you know about the human skin? Please take this quiz and find out.

Melanoma is especially dangerous if it is not found early. Regular skin checks can help people discover melanoma in its earliest stages, doctors agree.

Doctor Mole isn't the first tool to help smartphone users check for signs of skin cancer. Other apps guide users through self exams, and the German-made 'Handyscope' converts an iPhone into a dermatoscope, which doctors use to look for melanoma.

Mum Saves Life of Daughter After Identifying Meningitis Symptoms Thanks to Smartphone App
A mother saved the life of her three-year-old daughter by identifying her symptoms being the same as those on a meningitis app and quickly calling in an ambulance.

Mark stresses that his app is not, and will never be a substitute for a real doctor, even though he says quite a few doctors have told him they are using it with their patients.

Source-ANI