Many times patients are curious as to why they have to provide a general appearance photo along with their condition photos when submitting a virtual visit on HealthLens. A general appearance photo is essentially a "selfie" and it serves several important functions for the online evaluation.
Foremost, the general appearance gives the doctor an up-to-date look at the patient’s overall health. If the doctor has never seen the patient before in their practice, this picture provides them with a foundation to compare the patient’s overall skin quality to the skin quality in their condition photos. It is a simple way to gauge how much sun damage the person may have. If it is an existing patient but the doctor has not seen him or her in their practice for a substantial period of time, the general appearance photo allows the doctor to see if there have been any dramatic changes to the person’s health or skin quality besides normal aging.
A secondary purpose is that the general appearance photo helps the doctor instantly identify which patient they are evaluating. At a busy practice, there are usually a few patients who share the same name. Likewise, many doctors see multiple siblings from the same family in their practices. This photo eliminates the chance of the doctor getting two patients with the same name mixed up.
The general appearance photo is a vital aspect of your virtual visit on HealthLens. The best way to provide your doctor with a quick snapshot of your overall health is to provide the most recent photo possible. A “selfie” taken while completing the visit works great!
