Black Skin Dermatology Online, from the project to the website: A needed collaboration between North and South

Background: Whereas teledermatology is an emerging discipline, to date, no teledermatology service has been developed, which is specifically dedicated to black skins. Objectives: To create and develop a teledermatology service that provides a complete range of communication, information, telediagnosis and teaching services. Methods: A multilingual clinical description of the lesion was provided for each photograph using a five-level disease classification from the 10th revised International Classification of Diseases. In parallel, a usability study to assess and improve the functionality of the platform was also conducted. Results: A web prototype has been developed which integrates image acquisition, submission, clinical description, translation as well as validation, security and data protection aspects and almost 2000 images were obtained from which 600 have been integrated in the 'store and forward' telemedicine system (http://www.black-skin.org). Initial usability tests with native French medical students show good perceived usefulness, perceived usability and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.80 and 0.84). Conclusion: The Black Skin project (North and South collaboration project) offers possibilities for continuous medical education (pedagogical cases), teleteaching (educational quiz) or asking for a second opinion ('Ask a specialist' item). © 2008 The Authors.