Overview
Chronic hand eczema is a common and often invalidating condition. It is associated with itching, pain, disfigurement and loss of dexterity. It constitutes up to 30% of all occupational diseases in Europe and leads to significant work loss. Hand eczema is detected and quantified in a non-systematic and subjective manner. However, standardized treatment algorithms as well as personalized medicine depend on the availability of objective data for patient stratification in subgroups. Clinical scores can reflect disease activity but are cumbersome to calculate and are thus normally omitted by physicians. This project investigates a method that allows quantification of hand eczema parameters by image analysis of high-resolution photography in a mobile setting.
