Doctors Warn That Mole Testing Apps Cannot Detect Skin Cancers

Dubai, United Arab Emirates - Doctors have warned that popular smartphone applications that assess suspicious moles on people's bodies may not be reliable in detecting all forms of skin cancer. A study found that leading apps lacked the ability to detect skin cancer and incorrectly informed people that moles were a cause for concern.

Researchers evaluated the European apps "SkinVision" and "SkinScan," which have not yet been approved for launch in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The authors from the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham in the UK wrote: "We found in our review that the performance of algorithm-based smartphone applications is poor, indicating that these apps have not yet shown sufficient promise to recommend their use."

The authors warned that current regulatory processes are "insufficient to protect the public from the risks arising from the use of smartphone applications for diagnosis." They noted that healthcare professionals "need to be aware of the limitations of algorithm-based applications for reliably identifying melanomas, and they should inform potential smartphone users of these limitations."

The World Health Organization estimates that between two and three million cases of slow-developing skin cancers occur in the upper layers of the skin, and 132,000 cases of skin cancer occur worldwide each year. However, skin cancers can generally be treated when diagnosed early, which the authors say makes rapid and accurate detection "extremely critical."

Nine previous studies were reviewed, analyzing six different applications. The biggest risk factor for melanoma is excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation, which occurs due to sun exposure or the use of tanning beds.

Despite public health efforts to raise awareness of the risks, especially in hotter countries like Australia, another study in 2018 found that men worldwide are dying from skin cancer at a higher rate than women, and the overall rate of diagnosis has increased in recent decades. Melanoma has the highest mortality rate among skin cancers, according to the report, and accounts for 1.7% of all cancer diagnoses worldwide during the studied time period.