Smartphone app monitors users’ skin condition over time

Japanese Fujitsu Laboratories has developed a mobile app, Color Frame, designed to help users track the condition of their skin over time.

We’ve seen a number of tech-enabled efforts aimed at monitoring user health, including not long ago the Skin Scan app focused on melanoma. Recently, however, we came across a related effort from Japanese Fujitsu Laboratories, Color Frame — a mobile app designed to help users track the condition of their skin over time. With their smartphone’s camera, users of Color Frame begin by taking four photos: one around the cheekbone, one beside the nose, one beside the cheek, and one around the mouth, according to a report on DigInfo. The photos of these areas are framed by a small color wheel placed on the skin, allowing the app to detect and adjust to the ambient lighting conditions. Next, the user presses the app’s “Analyze” button, and in return they’re shown the submitted images along with a set of scores assessing factors including spots, dullness, and pore size. Results can be saved for future comparison, making it possible not only for users to monitor their skin condition over time, but also for retailers to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products, as DigInfo notes. The video below explains the premise in more detail: Reportedly slated to begin this year, Fujitsu’s service will target Japanese women initially, and could soon prove an invaluable tool for marketing makeup and skin care products. One to help regionalize for other parts of the world?