A Mobile Application for Early Detection of Melanoma by Image Processing Algorithms

Melanoma is the most dangerous skin cancer which causes many deaths annually. However, early detection can help treat it. For accurate detection of melanoma, dermatologists use biopsy which is usually associated with pain, time and cost. With the advancement of technology and the development of smartphones, many mobile applications have been designed for early detection of melanoma. Although they are fast in the detection of melanoma and save time and money, they are not as accurate as the biopsy. In this paper, the authors proposed an application for early detection of melanoma using image processing methods and pattern recognition algorithms by Android Studio software, Java programming language, and the OpenCV library. All detection steps were carried out using the Android smartphone. For better performance in the classification step, in addition to the smartphone, a computer was also used. This application is user-friendly and the calculated Accuracy, Sensitivity, and Specificity are 95%, 98%, and 92.19% on average, respectively. It should be noted that these results are more reliable when the lesions are geometrically distinct.