Skin Cancer App

You probably use your smart phones for all sorts of things. But diagnosing cancer probably shouldn't be one of them.

Emailing, texting, taking pictures... and, oh yeah... even to make a phone call. Those are just some of the things our smart phones can do. But trying to get them to diagnose skin cancer might end up getting you in trouble... health wise.

There are tons of health related apps you can download to your smart phone. Anything from apps that can track calories and exercise to help you lose weight to one that can help avoid adverse side effects from medicine. But one app that is supposed to help you diagnose skin cancer isn't always getting it correct and that could put your health in danger.

Researchers looked at four different smart phone apps that help you decide whether a skin lesion is concerning. You basically upload a picture of the mole or skin lesion and the app lets you know whether it things it is concerning or not. Three of the four apps incorrectly diagnosed the lesion more than 1/3 of the time, calling them "not concerning" when, in fact, they were ones that could have been melanomas. The only app that got it right most of the time was one where a dermatologist actually looked at the picture.

So, although these apps can be convenient and helpful in most cases, when it comes to skin cancer make sure the mole you're worried about is one that gets looked at by a medical expert.