Color constancy in dermatoscopy with smartphone

Date
2017-12-07
Authors
Cugmas, Blaž
Pernuš, Franjo
Likar, Boštjan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SPIE
Abstract
The recent spread of cheap dermatoscopes for smartphones can empower patients to acquire images of skin lesions on their own and send them to dermatologists. Since images are acquired by different smartphone cameras under unique illumination conditions, the variability in colors is expected. Therefore, the mobile dermatoscopic systems should be calibrated in order to ensure the color constancy in skin images. In this study, we have tested a dermatoscope DermLite DL1 basic, attached to Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Under the controlled conditions, jpeg images of standard color patches were acquired and a model between an unknown device-dependent RGB and a device independent Lab color space has been built. Results showed that median and the best color error was 7.77 and 3.94, respectively. Results are in the range of a human eye detection capability (color error ≈ 4) and video and printing industry standards (color error is expected to be between 5 and 6). It can be concluded that a calibrated smartphone dermatoscope can provide sufficient color constancy and can serve as an interesting opportunity to bring dermatologists closer to the patients.
Description
Keywords
Research Subject Categories::MEDICINE , Research Subject Categories::NATURAL SCIENCES::Physics::Atomic and molecular physics , color constancy , color reproduction accuracy , dermatology , telemedicine , smartphone
Citation
Blaž Cugmas, Franjo Pernuš, Boštjan Likar, "Color constancy in dermatoscopy with smartphone", Proc. SPIE 10592, Biophotonics—Riga 2017, 105920G (7 December 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2297252