Our experiences in medical photography at the burn center

Introduction: Medical photography has a wide range of uses. Photographs are used in clinical documentation, in publishing research in scientific journals, and in teaching. Material and Method: We evaluated the pictures of patients treated with 2009-2017 in intensive care unit, service and outpatient departments of the Burn Center of Kartal Dr. Lutfi Kirdar Education and Research Hospital. Findings: At the dates mentioned, the photographs of a total of 13150 patients (1162 burn intensive care patients, 3583 burn patients in regular service and 8405 outpatients) were taken. Each step of the patient’s treatments was photographed and archived digitally. We pictured the latest changes in dressing, urine color, and non-common diseases. We recorded the areas and donor sites where grafts are applied during surgical procedures and the most recent statuses digitally. Discussion: Photography has become part of the treatment of burn patients. Calculation of burn fractions, evaluation of damage at the time of first application, identification of areas to be infected or grafting is possible by photographing. Also; detection of causes of graft loss wound healing and sequelae formation can also be done with this photograph. Also, they provide evidence of applied treatments and materials used. We believe that digital imaging is an easy and inexpensive method of recording burned patients’ images in countries where laser Doppler imaging and psychoacoustical imaging are expensive.