Abstract:
Skin disease detection is a critical component of dermatological healthcare, traditionally dependent on dermatologists’ expertise for accurate diagnosis. However, manual diagnosis can be time-consuming and prone to errors, especially in regions with limited access to specialized care. To address these issues, this study proposes a novel approach utilizing deep learning techniques for the automated detection of skin diseases. We employed state-of-the-art deep learning architectures, including VGG16, VGG19, EfficientNetB0, and ResNet50, to classify four prevalent skin conditions: Eczema (Dermatitis), Psoriasis, Tinea, and Vitiligo. A comprehensive dataset of 600 images from these classes was collected from Vavuniya General Hospital, Sri Lanka. To our knowledge, this is the first study to apply deep learning for skin disease detection specifically South Asian skin types, particularly type IV and V in Sri Lankan patients. The images underwent preprocessing, annotation, and data augmentation to enhance the models’ ability to capture distinct features of each condition. Performance evaluations revealed that VGG16 and ResNet50 achieved accuracies of 87%, while VGG19 and EfficientNetB0 also showed strong results. To further improve predictive performance, these models were combined into an ensemble model, achieving a final accuracy of 91%. To make this research practically applicable, a Flask application was developed that allows users to upload an image of a skin disease that predicts the disease name. This research fills a significant gap in medical image analysis, providing a foundation for future advancements in automated skin disease detection.
