Patient-initiated digital photography in Peyronie's disease

Abstract

The introduction of digital camera and phone camera without having to develop images by a third party has simplified photography for everyday use. Digital imaging by patients can assist the assessment of medical conditions. We describe four male patients attending our department in whom digital imaging initiated by the patients was deemed to be helpful in supporting the diagnosis and assessing the severity of Peyronie's disease.

Patient-initiated camera phone images in general practice: a qualitative study of illustrated narratives

“…[3][4][5][6][7] Camera phone technology enables the user to invite remote people into their experience. 19 GPs reflecting on images shown to them by patients confirm observations from social studies literature, describing how images can enhance the patient-doctor discourse and add to the patient narrative by making visible the invisible, 8 developing rapport and constructing dialogue, 10 and expressing personhood.…”

“…Doctors have embraced the clinical use of camera phones, however reports of patient-initiated camera phone images are less frequent than doctor-initiated images. Images taken by patients on their camera phone have been used to diagnose inguinal hernia, 3 Peyronie's disease, 4 and drug eruptions. 5 Videos taken on camera phones has been useful for diagnosing epilepsy 6 and 'funny turns' in older people.…”

Diagnosis and management of erectile dysfunction

“…Injection tests with alprostadil (see section below), a prostaglandin E1 analogue, to assess rigidity is limited and mainly used to assess penile deformity – for example, due to Peyronie's disease when considering surgical management – and this can be achieved by patients photographing their own erections from multiple angles 14,15 …”

Engagement, Empowerment and Patient Generated Health Data

“…Unsolicited digital photographs taken of physiological dysfunction caused by Pyrone's disease to aid clinical management are indicative of the patient facing potential of the data (Obeyesekera, Herdiman, & Goh, 2006).…”