In the past, diagnosing skin disease, a potential health hazard that comes in many different forms, has been an enormous challenge for a number of physicians and dermatologists. Prior to the advent of the computer age, doctors were forced to make their diagnoses based on the pictures in a book. This meant a tedious process that involved viewing the blemish or lesion in question, flipping through the book until a match was made, and then making a diagnosis based on that match. This process took time, and it was severely flawed to boot: Most medical books are organized in such a way that the physician has to know what kind of disease he or she is dealing with before they can even attempt to find a picture of it. Coupled with the fact that each disease is only illustrated by one or two pictures, it’s no surprise that many serious skin disease are misdiagnosed, or go undiagnosed altogether.

Now, however, thanks to advances like the diagnostic program developed by physicians at the University of Rochester Medical Center, there is software available that allows doctors to browse through a vast database of thousands of images, increasing the likelihood that they’ll find a match for the skin disease they’re investigating. Furthermore, the program allows users to narrow the search by entering specific descriptive terms. This solves the old problem of having to know what the disease is before it could be properly diagnosed – a potentially fatal Catch-22. According to findings presented by the American Medical Informatics Association, the program has the ability to greatly increase the rate of accurate diagnosis by health care professionals. Since skin disease is so widespread and often very serious, this is excellent news indeed. From rashes and irritations to cancers, faster and more specific diagnosis is the key to more thorough and effective treatment.