Forget WebMD, Google Lens Can Identify Your Rash, Mole And Other Skin Conditions
Google is rightly proud of some of the things that Google Lens can do to make a user’s life easier. In a recent blog post, the tech giant has highlighted a mix of eight great things its visual search tool can help you with. As indicated by the headline, our favorite new feature goes a long way to preventing the need to take up a doctor’s, or specifically a dermatologist’s time. Google Lens can now be used to search for skin conditions.
Previously, doctors waiting room averse folk might have tried to understand the cause and find a remedy for a skin condition by searching the web. Using text inputs to describe a specific skin condition isn’t that easy, similarly picking through symptom checker websites are like searching for a needle in a haystack. Braver souls might do a web image search – but should be prepared for a gallery of horrors. Thankfully, Google Lens has now stepped in.
A blog post by Lou Wang, the Senior Director, Product Management, Google Search, explains how Google Lens users can now quickly search for skin conditions using the image-driven tool. “Just take a picture or upload a photo through Lens, and you’ll find visual matches to inform your search,” suggests Wang. “This feature also works if you're not sure how to describe something else on your body, like a bump on your lip, a line on your nails or hair loss on your head.”
Google’s new skin condition diagnosis ability has been quite some time in gestation. Back in 2021, the firm previewed a tool that could identify 288 different conditions with the help of AI processing. At the time, the tool’s top 3 suggestions as to the nature of the user’s condition would be correct 84 percent of the time.
We don’t know how much further the skin condition image processing and analysis tool has been refined or trained over the years, but it still comes with a warning, a cautionary note. If you look at the small print in the smart device images showing the tool in action, you can read the following: “Select a result to see more. Search results are informational only and not a diagnosis. Consult your medical authority for advice,” followed by a link.
