Evidencing Vibroacoustic Sensing for Inflammatory Skin Disease Monitoring

Over 300 million people around the world struggle with skin conditions like eczema and psoriasis, which cause ongoing discomfort and emotional stress. In the UK, these conditions are diagnosed by doctors looking at the skin to assess the severity of the disease, but delays in seeing specialists contribute to long waiting times in the NHS. To tackle these problems, the investigators have created a device that safely uses sound waves to measure skin properties, like stiffness and moisture. Unlike just looking, this device gives clear, data-based insights into skin health, which the investigators hope will enable us to accurately measure disease severity without the need to wait for a dermatologist appointment. This should speed up specialist referrals and allow us to tailor treatment options more effectively, earlier on. In our study, we want to prove that these sound wave measurements match up with disease severity and treatment success in eczema and psoriasis cases. We'll compare the results with those from dermatologists. We are looking for 20 volunteers with eczema or psoriasis who are about to start treatment. Volunteers will be scanned with our device alongside their regular skin examinations. We'll gather some extra information through questions and photos (optional), but no additional treatments or painful procedures are involved.