Cancel that dermatology appointment.
With Fujitsu Laboratories' latest tech, users can take photos of problem areas with a smartphone app to monitor their skin care regimen.
The Japanese-language smartphone app tracks acne, skin tone and pore size and can be used to monitor how the face reacts to a particular skin care product with before-and-after photos.
Using a color frame wheel, which allows for a variety of lighting conditions, the user highlights a specific area of skin and takes zoomed-in photos through the app's camera function. The app requires four shots: around the cheekbone, beside the nose, beside the cheek and around the mouth.
The program then analyzes the shots and applies a score to each image based on skin dullness, spots and pore size. Along with four skin scores, the app also spits out a binary image alongside each original photo to better display acne and bumps in the skin.
Users can track changes in their skin and monitor progress by comparing current results with previous measurements recorded in the app's history.
Fujitsu is expected to roll out the service later this year. Although the app was initially designed specifically for Japanese women, the company plans to incorporate a wider range of skin tones by collecting data from a diverse pool of candidates.
Fujitsu's skin care app follows a number of apps that have recently hit the market with the aim of diagnosing a variety of conditions from Malaria to strokes. Researchers from Stanford University recently debuted a smartphone app that uses an attached portable scanner to check for oral cancers.
While apps aiding in the diagnosis of a suspected malady are usually allowed, smartphone apps that claim to cure a condition, such as acne, are often shut down. In September, the Federal Trade Commission ordered two companies to cease marketing of their smartphone apps, which they claimed provided scientifically proven cures for acne.
Check out the video below to learn more about why the FTC banned the smartphone acne apps.
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