Page 293 - Read Online

monitoring in skin surgery or cosmetic treatments (fillers, teledermatological consultations, and educational
botox injections), and acne treatments in order to optimize interventions should be considered in the next future to
results when adjustments may be needed in due course, this purpose. Moreover, a well-founded juridical basis for
or to prevent complications and increase adherence to the use of “uncontrolled” selfies needs to be established,
treatment. A point that must be properly considered in aspects of insurance coverage requires clearing, since
acne treatment is that selfies taken by minors and sent to probably soon standardized apps to optimize the quality of
doctors can represent a serious legal issue. images and to store these images, along with the relevant
clinical information, in the cloud may become available.
Up to date, taking a selfie for medical purposes is
currently discouraged, because of the several ethical Overall, there is little point in negating or fighting the trend
and legal issues it can imply: the responsibility of the in patients’ empowerment brought in by the information
physician is questionable, personal images may be shared technology revolution. It is better to convey the energy of
inappropriately, all sorts of data and information may these impending changes to the benefit of public health.
remain unprotected, misdiagnoses are likely to occur.

As it was rightly put before, the use of selfies raises Financial support and sponsorship
[2]
important questions about data ownership, privacy, Nil.
and responsibility from the part of clinicians; still, an
indiscriminate opposition to this use is not justified. Conflicts of interest
Specific programs, smartphone application and also There are no conflicts of interest.
guidelines regarding their use are currently available
to general doctors and specialists who work with REFERENCES
teledermatology. [3,4] Increasing evidence support the use
of teledermatological techniques in clinical practice but 1. Byamba K, Syed-Abdul S, García-Romero M, Huang CW, Nergyi S,
their possible influence on doctor-patient relationship, Nyamdorj A, Nguyen PA, Iqbal U, Paik K, Celi L, Nikore V, Somai M, Jian
on adherence to treatment and on effectiveness of care WS, Li YC. Mobile teledermatology for a prompter and more efficient
requires constant monitoring and assessment. [5] 2. dermatological care in rural Mongolia. Br J Dermatol 2015;173:265-7.
David Kerr: Rise of the medical selfie. Available from: http://blogs.
bmj.com/bmj/2014/12/22/david-kerr-rise-of-the-medical-selfie. [Last
It has hence become necessary at this stage to start Accessed on January 3, 2016].
reflecting on the adequate use of selfies taken by patients 3. AccessDerm teledermatology program. Available from: https://www.
and on how this habit of patients may be properly aad.org/members/volunteer/accessderm-teledermatology-program.
directed in medicine. [Last Accessed on January 10, 2016].
4. Whited JD. Teledermatology. Med Clin North Am 2015;99:1365-9.
5. Al Quran HA, Khader YS, Ellauzi ZM, Shdaifat A. Effect of real-time
Doctors should think of developing adequate, simple and teledermatology on diagnosis, treatment and clinical improvement. J
standardized systems accessible to patients to facilitate Telemed Telecare 2015;21:93-9.

Plast Aesthet Res || Volume 3 || August 12, 2016 283