A team of Australian medical students has developed a non-invasive tool, an award winning app that’s capable of screening for anaemia.
Normally diagnosed during a doctor’s visit, the condition can be spotted by looking at the hue of blood-rich areas such as the skin beneath the fingernails or the inner eyelid.
To save a trip to see the doctor, or when one isn’t possible, the user simply takes a selfie in which he poses with a color card and pulls back the lower eyelid to expose what should be a rosy red membrane if he is in good health.
The app processes this not-too-flattering selfie, assessing the conjunctiva’s hemoglobin levels according to the color card and subsequently informs the user of how to proceed.
The app, called Eyenaemia, is not yet available for downloading but will soon be available for Microsoft devices after receiving Microsoft’s 2014 Imagine World Cup award.
An online portal is also available for users to asses risk of anaemia by capturing and loading a photo of ones eye.
According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), pre-school age children and pregnant women bear the highest risk for anaemia and the highest prevalence of anaemia is in Africa (67.6 percent) and South-East Asia (65.5 percent).
Apps facilitating the diagnosis of skin conditions are nothing new, and there are several enabling concerned individuals to send photos of their beauty marks to doctors for analysis.
One such app is STD Triage, where individuals can send pictures of alarming or embarrassing skin conditions for medical assessment in anonymity. The app is available for downloading to both iOS and Android devices.
