iPhone Medical Photography

iPhone Medical Photography: Everything you need to know to get quick answers and reduce doctor visits.
By Dr Zameel Panthakkalakath
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (9 December 2014)
ISBN: 978-1505221596

Publisher's description
Own an iPhone? Then you have in your hands a fantastic tool that can take high quality medical photos, share them in seconds and get you answers fast. But in order to produce pictures that can be used for reliable diagnosis, your phone needs just a little help from you.
Combining easy-to-understand explanations and simple practical tips, this book shows you how to take photos that capture the relevant information in a wide range of different scenarios. Images and videos that show the doctor the full story can be hugely valuable in speeding up diagnosis in a wide range of conditions - if you know how to get it right.
From skin conditions to child development and emergency care to joint problems, iPhone Medical Photography shows you exactly what to do and explains why it's not enough to simply point and shoot.
Topics include:

• Why photos can help doctors even when you're able to meet face-to-face.
• The medically-approved way to post patients for different types of shots.
• What to include in each photo - and what to take out.
• How to capture images that help doctors focus on what matters most.
• What to consider when storing and sending medical photos.

Apply the knowledge give here, and you'll be able to use your own photos to speed up communications and save time and money.
There is also a useful discussion for doctors on how to incorporate iPhone photography into medical practice.
The techniques are easy both to learn and use, making this a valuable resource for patients, doctors and first responders alike.

My verdict
iPhone Medical Photography is a novel combination of an iPhone photography guide and a book on how to aid take photos and videos that could be used in a medical context. It's aimed at both patients and healthcare professionals, and could potentially be useful in medical conditions with visible flare ups, such as eczema or rheumatoid arthritis.

These days, most of us walk around with smartphones, using these to take quick photos for convenience. The only drawback of smartphone cameras is that they don't provide photos of the same high quality as those taken with an actual camera. The book's goal is to help patients and healthcare professionals produce an image that is as useful to a doctor as possible.

I myself have taken photos with a smartphone to help in diagnosis/treatment a couple of times myself. The first occasion was when my son developed an unusual form of hives that occurred all over his body but had no known trigger. The hives were severe, with white raised welts on a red flare. But each time, the rash lasted only around 20 minutes, so there was nothing to show the doctor at an appointment the following day. By taking photographs, I could show the doctor what the rash looked like when we went for the consultation. The rash turned out to be dermatographism ('writing on the skin'), a form of hives that is triggered by any pressure on the skin, including clothes rubbing. The second occasion was when the same son slammed his finger in a car door - luckily an x-ray revealed that nothing was broken, although the nail bed was slightly damaged. As we changed the dressing daily, we took a photograph to keep an eye on the healing process and the nail growth.

iPhone Medical Photography is easy to read, with useful photos and diagrams. But if you are squeamish, be warned that some of the photos are not for the faint-hearted. There is information on how to get the angle right, framing the photo and the use of a ruler or tape measure to show scale, alongside useful iPhone photography tops on zoom, flash, exposure, HDR mode etc. Some of the tips seemed obvious, such as putting the main area of interest in the centre of the picture, but others (e.g. capturing the most natural skin colour and tones) were interesting reading. There is also general advice on keeping photographs secure - both on the iPhone and sharing them with others - which is particularly important for healthcare professionals.