First look into the project. Severe Contact Dermatitis on fingers.

Master Research Project (in progress)

TONO: Visualizing Eczema in Every Skintone

TONO is a web-based reference atlas designed to improve how eczema is identified across all skin tones. As part of my Master's Research Project in Biomedical Communications, I pitched TONO to address the lack of diverse visual resources.

A need for dermatological examples of skin of color

Currently, there is a lack of visual references that accurately depict dermatological conditions on diverse skin tones. This gap can lead to misdiagnosis or delayed treatment for patients with skin of color. TONO aims to address this issue by providing a comprehensive and inclusive visual resource of eczema for healthcare professionals.

why illustrations if we have photos?

Illustrated images offer more control than photographs with consistent lighting, pose, and severity across skin tones. This makes clinical features like erythema or scaling easier to see. Showing the same image of the condition across different tones also helps highlight how presentations can vary by allowing for direct comparison. Since images of skin of color are often underrepresented in clinical references, illustration helps fill that critical gap.

Audience

Audience: Primary Care Physicians and Internal Medicine Residents.

User interviews were conducted to shape the design and content of TONO.

Workflow

What will TONO cover?

Tono will include a seven types of eczema, such as: atopic dermatitis, contact dermatitis, dyshidrotic eczema, statis dermatitis, nummular dermatitis, neurodermatitis and seborrheic dermatitis. Each condition will be illustrated on four different skin tones: dark, medium, olive, and fair. Additionally it will show four severities: normal, mild, moderate and severe.

A look into the Visual Process

UV Maps

Using a 3D Model, I created variations of the original UV maps. The original was the "fair skintone". I created three variants of deeper skintones ensuring consistency across all images, and a realistic portrayal of the skin.

Prep for Rendering

I import my UV maps (which serve as the base for each eczema condition I’ve drawn in Procreate ) and apply them to the model. I use the Remap Value node in the Hypershade to fine-tune visual aspects like body roughness. Once everything is calibrated, I render out the images.

Example of a rendered image with the dark skintone UV map I created (Maya).

Finetuning in Procreate

After rendering, I bring the images into Procreate and draw the eczema symptoms directly onto the skin. This phase focuses on clearly visualizing features like erythema, peeling, and thickening, while making sure they’re accurate and consistent across all skin tones.

Goal: Realistic Detail + Clear images

This image is an example of mild to moderate lichenification. My goal across all conditions is to capture realistic skin detail while clearly showing key features like texture, scaling, and discoloration. This balance helps ensure that clinical signs are recognizable and consistent across all skin tones. Creating images doctors can easily reference.

TONO will have a total of 224 images available for Medical Practitioners to reference.