Colorime3ka measures and names the colour of a skin finding from a photograph or the live camera. It was created for forensic and dermatological documentation, where a precise, repeatable description of colour decides the quality of the record.
WHAT DECIDES IS THE CHROMOPHORE
Not the colour itself, but which substance causes it. Melanin darkens the whole area and keeps a yellow-brown hue. Haemoglobin adds colour but barely darkens the skin, because the blood lies beneath an intact epidermis. Dried blood has a very dark red-brown core. A scar is recognised by what it lacks — no dark component, no skin markings.
MEASUREMENT
• Robust colour of the area (median of channels), converted to CIELAB, named by ΔE (CIEDE2000)
• Uniformity, sharpness of the margin, surface roughness, outline and the hue gradient from centre to edge
• Adjustable measurement area with a reticle that also frames the surrounding skin
CALIBRATION AND SCALE
• Grey card — removes the colour cast of the lighting
• Colour chart (24 patches) — a 3×3 correction matrix in linear RGB, for comparable series
• Scale in millimetres from two taps on a ruler
• Printed T2/T3 calibration target (aPrehliadky project) found automatically — colour matrix from a ColorChecker Mini in its cut-out, white balance from its grey row, millimetre scale from its fiducials; both targets print straight from the app
• LiDAR (iPhone Pro): distance to the measured point gives the millimetre scale with no ruler; "Take photo" saves a real photograph and opens it with the scale set
• Lesion length and width entered by hand, in mm, cm or inches
TWO ASSESSMENT MODES
Forensic — bruise, abrasion, wounds, crusts and scars, erythema, vitality and dating.
Dermatological — pigmented lesions and melanoma by ABCDE, efflorescences, inflammatory and vascular changes.
CLINICAL CONTEXT
The photograph does not carry what most often decides. The app therefore asks: state of the subject, history of trauma, duration, body region, whether the skin is broken, whether the lesion blanches under pressure, skin markings, level and distribution. Factually impossible combinations are excluded outright and the reason is stated.
ATLAS OF 67 FINDINGS
Bilingual, with original schematic drawings: mechanical injuries, thermal and electrical injuries, healing, pigmented lesions, efflorescences, post-mortem changes, and body modifications and traditional practices — including findings regularly mistaken for abuse.
REFERENCE FINGERPRINTS AND EXPERT MODE
Recognition thresholds are measured on verified clinical photographs, and each match names the photograph it comes from. An optional expert mode (off by default) lets a specialist store a measurement as a further reference - twelve measured numbers and a note, never a photograph. References travel between colleagues as a .ch3lab file: each import arrives as a pack you can disable or delete as a whole, and stays in quarantine until you have reviewed what it will change.
FOR RESEARCH
CSV export of every measured quantity, including the conditions under which it was obtained.
WHAT IT DOES NOT DO
The app gives no diagnosis and is not a medical device. Percentages express the agreement of measured features with reference criteria, not diagnostic certainty; the ceiling is 85 %. The age of a bruise cannot be determined with certainty from colour — the app states this openly instead of hiding it. The decision always belongs to the physician.
Fully localised in Slovak and English. Created by Ján Šikuta, forensic pathologist, with the support of forensika.eu.
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