Semi-Automatic Tool for Vitiligo Detection and Analysis

Vitiligo vulgaris is an autoimmune disease which causes a strong reduction of the cells producing melanin, which is the main skin pigment. This results in the growth of white patches on patients’ skin, which are more or less visible, depending on the skin phototype. Precise, objective and fast detec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of imaging 2020-03, Vol.6 (3), p.14
Main Authors: Neri, Paolo, Fiaschi, Michela, Menchini, Giovanni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive algorithms
Autoimmune diseases
black light
Dermatology
Disease
Face recognition
Image detection
Image processing
Medical imaging
Melanin
Methods
Patches (structures)
Patients
Pictures
Researchers
semi-automatic vitiligo detection
Skin
Software
Statistical analysis
Vitiligo
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Summary:Vitiligo vulgaris is an autoimmune disease which causes a strong reduction of the cells producing melanin, which is the main skin pigment. This results in the growth of white patches on patients’ skin, which are more or less visible, depending on the skin phototype. Precise, objective and fast detection of vitiligo patches would be crucial to produce statistically relevant data on huge populations, thus giving an insight on the disease. However, few methods are available in literature. In the present paper, a semi-automatic tool based on image processing to detect facial vitiligo patches is described. The tool requires pictures to be captured under black light illumination, which enhances patches contrast with respect to healthy skin. The user is only required to roughly define the regions of interest and set a global threshold, thus, no specific image-processing skills are required. An adaptive algorithm then automatically discerns between vitiligo and healthy skin pixels. The tools also allow for a statistical data interpretation by overlapping the detected patches of all patients on a face template through an occurrence map. Preliminary results obtained on a small population of 15 patients allowed us to assess the tool’s performance. Patch detection was checked by an experienced dermatologist, who confirmed the detection for all the studied patients, thus supporting the effectiveness of the proposed tool.
ISSN:2313-433X
2313-433X
DOI:10.3390/jimaging6030014