Kara Burns uses medical selfies to check if her wounds are healing.

Image via Kara Burns/ABC.

Ever taken a selfie of a skin rash, wound, or mole? Or a video of a wheezing episode or muscle twitch so you could discuss it with your doctor? If so, you’re part of a growing movement that’s revolutionising the way health care is practised.

And both patients and doctors can benefit from this “medical selfie” trend, Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher Kara Burns said.

Just like that annoying noise in your car engine that disappears as soon as you take it to the mechanic, plenty of medical problems are transient or hard to demonstrate in the doctor’s surgery, former medical photographer Ms Burns said.

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She said your photographic evidence could provide your doctor with vital information they might otherwise miss.
Ms Burns specifically cites the recent case of Canadian woman Stacey Yepes, who used her mobile phone to capture an episode of symptoms that included slurred speech and facial paralysis, which ultimately lead to a diagnosis of a stroke.

The thing is, she had already seen her doctor about an earlier experience with similar symptoms, but they had not been able to confirm the diagnosis with testing. In this case, the medical selfie led to an accurate diagnosis that could well have saved a life, Ms Burns said.

(However, you probably want to call an ambulance and not take a selfie if you think you are having a stroke.)

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Indeed, new research conducted in the United Kingdom found patient photos produced information that was highly relevant to GP consultations and “empowered patients by illustrating their narratives”, Ms Burns said.

Spotting skin cancers

Your mobile phone can also be a useful way to monitor skin spots, as features that change over time can be a key indication of a skin cancer.

While a GP can judge a spot as benign at any given point in time, they might also suggest you take close-up photographs at regular intervals yourself and bring any further changes you notice to their attention.

There also appears to be a link between taking pictures and certain healthy behaviours, with one recent study noting that patients who regularly took images of their moles were more aware of sun-smart activities.

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“Taking a photo with a large-format digital camera with the appropriate macro lens and correct, even lighting will always be better than something you take on your phone,” Ms Burns said.

“However I do think photos taken on phones are adequate for doctors to use as part of a whole range of ways to diagnose a patient.”

How to spot a skin cancer

Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the world.

Being able to capture evidence about your health status can also help you feel empowered when you talk to your doctor, Ms Burns said.

“In some situations, patients feel doctors don’t adequately take into account their opinions and what they think is going on,” she said.

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“Traditionally medicine was ‘the doctor knew everything and the patient just listened to them and said yes to everything’. And I think that dynamic is really changing.”

GP and educator Dr Justin Coleman has had patients bring in photos during consultations, and said these could help doctors try to make a diagnosis — “although 25 is too many”, she said.

But selfies alone are not enough. They are most useful when considered in context with a patient’s other symptoms and their medical history, he said.

“It’s a tool like any other tool. It can be useful, but a doctor’s not going to make a diagnosis exclusively on the basis of what a patient has photographed.”

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In his view, a patient showing their doctor a selfie in their consultation room is fairly straightforward. But things get more complicated if patients send GPs their images via SMS or email.

Dr Coleman said this opened the door to a range of issues, especially some related to patient privacy and associated medico-legal issues.

Motivational tool

Even if your images are not relevant for your doctor, they could give you “a better idea of what’s going on in your own body”.

It can also give you the motivation you need to “hang in there” when you have got a health condition which does not disappear overnight but rather improves very slowly over time — as long as you do the right things.

Some diabetic wounds to the foot, for instance, can take two years to heal and require restrictive behaviour from the patient, Ms Burns said.

“There might be times as a patient when you think, ‘I really don’t want to wear [protective footwear] or sit down for eight hours a day, which I know is good for my foot’. Documenting the process of that long-term wound healing can show you how far you’ve come,” she said.

“The more evidence a person can collect about their health, the better.”

Do you take photos to your doctor?