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
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, 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 63 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.
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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