title: Procedure to diagnose onychomycosis through changes in emissivity on infrared images.
abstract: A noninvasive, quick, reliable, and relatively cheap procedure for the diagnosis of onychomycosis is put forward. It is known that a nail may show an abnormal appearance, although only 50% of all the nails having such an appearance may owe it to the presence of onychomycosis; hence, adequate diagnosis of nail disease is needed for appropriate prescription of medication and treatment of the nail. In order to contribute to the process of improvement in the diagnosis, a procedure based on the analysis of medium-range infrared images is presented in which it is possible to observe energy changes mostly due to the changes in emissivity of the nail. As a nail is more affected by onychomycosis, such changes become more intense. Also, it was found that a nail without onychomycosis has a lower temperature than toe skin, but has a higher emission of energy. Fifty percent of the ailments that may a cause a fingernail or toenail to have an abnormal appearance are not considered in the present work.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Guanajuato, División de Ciencias e Ingenierías, Campus León, Loma del Bosque 103, Col. Lomas del Campestre, C.P. 37150, León, Gto., Mexico.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villaseñor-Mora
authors.forename: Arturo Gonzalez
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.forename: Maria Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Garay-Sevilla
authors.forename: José Alfredo
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Padilla-Medina
authors.forename: Lauro Ivan
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Arteaga-Murillo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009262:Nails / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014009:Onychomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*; D014034:Toes / Q000503:physiopathology