Atopic dermatitis - in the new age of digital dermatology

Atopic dermatitis - in the new age of digital dermatology

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People suffering from atopic dermatitis struggle with the condition itself and stigmatization, making digital analysis of disease and treatment vital to clinical management to enhance their quality of life using SCARLETRED.

Atopic dermatitis (AD), also known as atopic eczema, is a chronic relapsing inflammatory dermatological condition affecting approximately 2.4% of the total population (Urban et al., 2021). Signs and symptoms vary widely from person to person, but they commonly include dry, itching, thickened, scaly, and sensitive skin.

Assessment of disease activity is key in clinical management and monitoring of patients with AD. This applies to professionals in their daily routine as well as during clinical trials. To this purpose, providing dermatologists with an easy-to-manage mobile data management system accessible from any computer would empower dermatologists to establish in-clinic standardized documentation and analysis methods for AD patients. Additionally, the scalability of such a digital tool, especially of value in multi-centric clinical trials, allows to precisely follow patient treatment progression and thus the efficacy of the investigational product consistently throughout the entire study.

In this context, SCARLETRED, an Austrian digital health company, has developed a novel solution, Scarletred®Vision, for the standardized documentation, assessment, quantification, and analysis of conditions ranging from dermatological indications to drug reactions to fungal conditions.

Scarletred®Vision is a CE certified Class I Medical Device: the system is ICH-GCP, GDPR- and HIPAA-compliant and is a certified ISO-13485 Quality Management System. It is used in a wide variety of settings, including clinical trials (preclinical to phase IV), routine clinical work, hospital care as well as remote monitoring of patients. Scarletred®Vision’s scalability allows doctors to easily empower their subjects to participate and provide valuable data remotely, from the comfort of their home.

Atopic Dermatitis on a patient´s arm


How does Scarletred®Vision work?

Scarletred®Vision consists of the following components:

Mobile App: generation of high-quality images in conformity with data protection regulations and patient anonymity

Skin Patches: calibration of the captured images for color, lighting conditions, and size

Online Platform: documentation, assessment, and quantification of patient data


Scarletred®Vision Mobile App: Imaging & ePRO

Step 1: Place the Skin Patch on the healthy skin next to the area of interest.

Step 2: Take an image using the Mobile App, which is then automatically uploaded to the secure online platform.

Step 3: The analysis can be performed on the Online Platform, which offers multiple tools to assist the medical professionals.

Step 4 (Optional): Electronic Patient Reported Outcomes (ePROs) and questionnaires can be customized and configured to appear after the image has been taken (Figure 1). The answers and the resulting score are documented centrally on the platform together with the with the corresponding AD image.

ScarletredVision DLQI questionnaire on the mobile app
Figure 1. Scarletred®Vision in-App ePRO: The software can be configured to have customized questions appear automatically at specific timepoints, as per clinician/study requirements. In this example, the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) has been configured to automatically appear after an image of the area affected by AD has been captured.

Scarletred®Vision Online Platform: Documentation

Images are automatically uploaded to the online platform (Figure 3), where it can be visualized and analyzed. One of Scarletred®Vision’s most iconic signal maps is the Standard Erythema Value (SEV*): this augmented visualization technology allows for erythema to stand out more clearly while taking into account the individual's native skin color, thereby enabling the dermatologist to make a more objective visual assessment while facilitating the quantification of the lesion (Figure 2).

Original calibrated image of patient´s foot with atopic dermatitis using ScarletredVision
Figure 2a. Original calibrated image of the patient with AD.
ScarleteredVision SEV augmented signal map visualization of patient´s foot with atopic dermatitis
Figure 2b. SEV+ augmented erythema signal map.
Overview of measurement and analysis of atopid dermatitis patient´s foot on ScarletredVision online platform

Figure 3. Analysis on the Scarletred®Vision Online Platform. Overview of the Scarletred®Vision Online Platform: it presents the patient’s AD lesion along with all the corresponding information such as a date & time stamp, notes by the doctor (e.g. concomitant medication, psychological state, etc.), a body tag of the imaged area (useful for data management), lesion score, and in-app questionnaire results (e.g., DLQI, QoL, and many more customizable ePROs). The image is depicted in the Scarleted®Vision’s distinguished Standard Erythema Value (SEV*) scheme, which augments the visualization of erythema whilst taking into account the native skin color. Not depicted in this figure, yet available as additional visualization tools, are the following pseudo-signal maps: redness (a*), lightness (L*), and yellowness (b*), each highlighting a specific parameter.

Scarletred®Vision Online Platform: Analysis

The analysis tools on the online platform allow users to visualize and graph the selected values for different time points. The analysis can be customized to show the relevant parameters (area, SEV*, L* or b*) for all or for selected time points. By monitoring patient treatment progression, through the quantification of specific parameters can contribute to the evaluation of the efficacy of the applied treatment (Figure 4).

Graphical analysis of atopic dermatitis and global reference area on the ScarletredVision online paltform
Figure 4. Analysis on the Scarletred®Vision Online Platform. Left Panel: The data resulting from the selection tool can be plotted directly on the Online Platform. The red line represents the AD infected area and the black line represents the reference values (skin unaffected by AD). Right panel: The graph can be customized to show the relevant parameters either for all or for specific time points.


Scarletred®Vision’s innovative approach to creating digital solutions is the first of its kind. Its modular framework makes it applicable to all skin conditions (dermatological diseases, injection sites, drug reactions, allergic reactions, cosmeceuticals and many more). The certified Medical Device offers digital documentation and analytical tools that have been proven, both in the clinical and home-based settings, to increase data quality, enable doctors to quantify visual parameters, to improve patient treatment regimen and patient compliance, save doctors time, and generate analyses that are not obtainable with other technologies in the field.

Don’t be a stranger!  Get in touch with our Team so that we can discuss how to best tailor our solution to fit your needs: support@scarletred.com.


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