Analysis of trends in dermatology mobile applications in Korea

Abstract

Background: Mobile applications are useful in the field of dermatology as diagnosis and treatment are based on visual inspection. However, in Korea, dermatology-related applications have not been developed effectively despite the high rate of mobile internet usage. In addition, there is no report on the current trends of dermatology-related mobile application. Objective: This study aimed to identify and categorize the available dermatology-related mobile application and compare the current trends in Korea with those in the US. Methods: Eight dermatologic terms were queried in two mobile platforms, Android and iOS. Applications were categorized by function based on their description. The number of reviews, rating, provider, target audience, and price of applications were recorded. Results: A total of 213 dermatology-related applications were identified. Approximately 10.8% of the applications were related to skin diseases, 23.5% were related to skin care, and 65.7% were others. Among the applications related to skin diseases, 4.2% were self-surveillance/diagnosis apps, 3.3% were disease guide and reference apps, and 1.4% were dermoscopy apps. No applications were related to educational aid and photography search. Among the applications related to skin care, 12.7% were self-surveillance/diagnosis apps used for general skin care, 3.8% were skin care apps, and 2.8% were cosmetics apps. Other categories included shopping (24.9%), advertisements (15.0%), and hospital searches (15.0%). Conclusion: The development and use of dermatology mobile applications can contribute to the efficient delivery of accurate information to patients, educate patients, and further reduce the prevalence of skin diseases. Therefore, dermatologists should play a leading role in presenting the direction for dermatology-related mobile application development. ? 2020 Korean Dermatological Association. All rights reserved.