Smartphone photography for smart assessmentof post-surgical wounds – an experience duringthe COVID-19 pandemic

Aim: This study was undertaken with an aim to assess the feasibility of monitoring of wound healing by replacement of the traditional real-life clinical follow-up with a review of smartphone-captured digital photographs of post-surgical wounds by a clinician. Method: The postoperative patients who understood the objectives got enrolled in the prospective study and were followed up. They were requested to capture digital photographs of the wounds using smartphones and send them through WhatsApp on postoperative days 3, 5, 7, 15 and 30 or else whenever they felt need for review due to symptoms like fever, pain, redness or swelling. Results: 24 abdominal, 2 extremity and 1 neck wounds were followed up in 27 patients. Three patients developed complications and all were detected with 100% accuracy. As many as 81% of the patients were satisfied with this mode of postoperative wound assessment. Conclusion: The experience shows that in the follow-up of postsurgical wounds, there is a good correlation between real-life clinical and remote photographic review. Incorporating photographic wound assessment into the postoperative follow-up care pathway can potentially decrease the number of postoperative hospital visits and decrease the burden on healthcare facilities..