THE CREATION of a groundbreaking database to help diagnose skin conditions on darker skinned is being pioneered by staff at the University of Birmingham.
An alarming number of diseases in dark skin people are being missed or misdiagnosed simply because image banks used by doctors and dermatologists across the UK are predominantly made up of images of white skins.
Dr June Jones, a senior lecturer in biomedical ethics at the university, has joined forces with the Channel 4 health awareness show Embarrassing Bodies to encourage more people from ethnic backgrounds to upload images of skin conditions on to the programme’s website.
According to Dr Jones, less than four per cent of images in dermatology databases used by medics currently involve patients with darker skin – and this could prove fatal if serious conditions are missed.
PASSIONATE
“I am passionate about equal health care for everyone but at the moment we are not equipped to offer this as image banks are not truly diverse, so many people are at a disadvantage” Dr Jones, who is also college lead in religious and cultural diversity explained.
“For example a condition like ringworm can look completely different on white skin, as the skin reddens, making the condition clearly visible.”
“Doctors and medical students have little opportunity to learn about how skin conditions in people with darker skin tones, which means there can be a delay or a mistake in diagnosis.”
She attributed financial constraint as the primary factor. “There is no overt racist factor in all this. I think it’s a result of financial cuts over the years, for example hospitals losing medical photographers who were able to record vital medical conditions. Since the West Midlands has one of the most ethnically diverse populations it’s really important that we lead the way here and train our doctors to provide equitable health care for all,” she added.
Interestingly, three volunteers with varying degrees of skin colour were ‘made up’ by the university’s medical effects artist Julia Hyland, of the History of Medical Unit to present with examples of ringworm, a meningitis rash and melanoma, a skin cancer.
All the trainee medics spotted conditions on the white skinned volunteer quickly and easily, but had trouble diagnosing those on dark skin. An example of ringworm was dismissed as ‘dry skin’ while most of the students completely missed a cancerous mole on the volunteer’s ear.
AWARENESS
This was all filmed for Embarrassing Bodies, a TV series which aims to raise health awareness and de-stigmatise embarrassing medical conditions.
Dr Jones added: “Thankfully skin cancers are less common on darker skins, but sadly the outcome can be far more serious if it is simply not spotted early enough. Missing or misdiagnosing conditions is potentially fatal.”
She said she was keen to connect with community groups in the West Midlands to spread the word about the importance of the public contributing to the database and welcomed the chance to talk to groups.
Full instructions on how to upload an image are given on the Embarrassing Bodies website and are checked by a consultant dermatologist.
Ideally, people who submit examples should have had the condition already diagnosed by their doctor.
Any group wishing to talk with Dr Jones can contact her by email: j.jones.1@bham. ac.uk
For further details visit: http://www.livefromtheclinic.channel4.com/case-videos/lftc2e2skindatabase
Refined Beauty 