SkinVision flags a mole as high risk; stage 1A melanoma removed

AI system

System: SkinVision skin-check app (AI analysis of smartphone photographs of moles, graded low, medium or high risk)
Model: Not assessed
Release: Not assessed
Application developer: SkinVision
Role: Not assessed
Configuration: Not assessed
Inputs and outputs: Not assessed
Autonomy: Not assessed
Workflow: A smartphone photograph of a changing mole submitted to SkinVision's risk classifier. A high-risk rating with an instruction to see a doctor, acted on by the user. A GP referral and an excision with pathology that confirms and stages the lesion.
Human oversight: Not assessed
Relation to AI: The app's classifier graded a phone photograph of the mole high risk and told him to see a doctor at once. By his account that prompt, not the color change, is what sent him to his GP. He said he only goes to the doctor when absolutely desperate. The referral, excision, biopsy and staging were done by the GP, the dermatologist and pathology, none of whom the Daily Mail quotes. The article does not report the app's score, its version, or whether the 48-hour dermatologist advice it mentions was used.
AI contribution: The app's classifier graded a phone photograph of the mole high risk and told him to see a doctor at once. By his account that prompt, not the color change, is what sent him to his GP. He said he only goes to the doctor when absolutely desperate. The referral, excision, biopsy and staging were done by the GP, the dermatologist and pathology, none of whom the Daily Mail quotes. The article does not report the app's score, its version, or whether the 48-hour dermatologist advice it mentions was used.

Benefits

Outcome identifiers: Not assessed
Benefit: stage 1A melanoma was found and removed, and he is cancer-free
Category: Improved Physical Health
Status: Not assessed
Beneficiary groups: People.
Beneficiaries: Not assessed
Reach: Not assessed
Distribution and access: Not assessed
Duration: Not assessed
Expected?: Yes
Costs and harms: Not assessed

Measurement

Studies: Not assessed
Study design: Not assessed
Measurement: Not assessed
Setting and sample: Not assessed
Measures: stage 1A melanoma was found and removed, and he is cancer-free
Comparison: Not assessed
Results: stage 1A melanoma was found and removed, and he is cancer-free
Additional value from AI: Not assessed
Limitations: Not assessed
Denominators: Not assessed
Materials for replication: Not assessed

Money

Kind of value: Not assessed
Amount: Not assessed
Currency and prices: Not assessed
Period and unit: Not assessed
Realization: Not assessed
Recipients and payers: Not assessed
Gross or net: Not assessed
Included costs: Not assessed
Comparison: Not assessed
Method: Not assessed
Return and payback: Not assessed

People and places

Participants: Developer: SkinVision.
Jurisdictions: Benefit: London, United Kingdom. Developer: Netherlands.
Ownership and control: Not assessed
Dependencies: Not assessed
Cross-border connections: Not assessed
Geopolitical implications: Not assessed

Follow-up

Conditions for replication: The lesion is one the classifier can score from a phone photograph. The article reports no score or app version. The user follows the app's advice rather than treating the rating as noise. Clinical follow-up is available quickly enough for early-stage removal. Here the operation came two weeks after referral.
Replication attempts: Not assessed
Later findings: No later report on this case was found in the cited sources; SkinVision's site now says the app is not yet available in the United States pending regulatory clearance.
Availability: Not assessed
Institutional decision: Not assessed
Grounds: Not assessed
Action and result: Not assessed
Success criterion: Not assessed

Evidence

Source numbers: AIBD-0107-source-0001–0003
Citations: Numbered references below.
Language: Not assessed
Source relationships: Independent, Developer
Original evidence: Not assessed
Access and versions: Not assessed
Supported findings: Not assessed
Evidence links: Not assessed
Evidence strength: Not assessed
Missing evidence: Not assessed

Grades

Assessed benefits: People.
Depth: People: 3.
Reasons: People: A biopsy-confirmed stage 1A melanoma was excised, further tests found no spread and he is reported cancer-free. He calls it life-saving, but stage 1A is early disease and no clinician is quoted on prognosis. How long he would otherwise have waited is his own estimate.
Observed or intended: Not assessed
Rubric: Not assessed
Assessor and date: Not assessed
Alternative assessments: Not assessed
Fill: Independently reported

Entry details

Kind: Not assessed
Related entries: Not assessed
Field: Healthcare - dermatology / melanoma detection. Consumer mobile health app.
Purpose: SkinVision is built to grade a phone photograph of a mole low, medium or high risk. It tells users with a high-risk result to see a doctor, with dermatologist advice sent within 48 hours. This benefit is that intended use.
Dates: Date basis unassessed: 2020 (precision unassessed). Updated: 21 October 2026.
Stage: Not assessed
Version: SHA-256: 695ed3c0cef6…

References

Other identifiers: oecd_aim: 2020-01-18-8e93.
Category mappings: Not assessed
Brief: Not assessed
Revisions: 4 revisions. Latest: 21 October 2026.

Sources

News report Independent author

Howard H (2020). Saved by an app: Office worker, 31, is diagnosed with a deadly form of skin cancer after his mobile phone warned him about a tiny mole on his arm. Daily Mail, 17 January 2020.
News report Independent author

Al-Dostour (2020). سكان فيزيون. التكنولوجيا تكشف عن السرطان بطريقة مبتكرة [Skin Vision: technology detects cancer in an innovative way]. dostor.org, 18 January 2020, crediting the Daily Mail; one of the five Arabic-language sources cited by the OECD Monitor.
Press release Developer

SkinVision (2025). SkinVision | Skin Cancer Detection App. Company website, fetched 20 October 2026; the page served to US visitors gives no legal entity or address.