About Us
The Motivation and The Science
A Need for Accurate Bruise Aging
Every year, there are over 10 million domestic violence (DV) victims in the US alone.
One of the most common injuries seen in DV cases are bruises:
injuries caused by impacts that does not tear the skin but still break blood vessels within it.
Being able to deduce the severity of a bruise and when the injury occurred can provide invaluable information for incident timelines and cross examinations.
The current method of aging bruises compares a victim’s bruise to a catalog of well documented and aged bruises, known as a coloration guide.
However, simply using the outward appearance is nowhere near accurate enough to be acceptable in a court setting -
studies find clinicians have an average success rate in the range of 55%-63%, making it is hardly better than a coin toss.
This inaccuracy is exacerbated for patients with darker skin tones; coloration guides are only representative of patients with lighter skin tones,
despite victims of color making up a staggering 40% of DV cases.
Failing to accurately determine a bruise’s age could potentially lead to delayed or improper treatment for the victim and the obstruction of justice for the offender.
DermaVision Technologies aims to provide forensic and medical professionals with an accurate, portable, and non-invasive device capable of quantitatively measuring the age of a bruise,
with a focus on overcoming racial disparities by ensuring effectiveness regardless of skin tone.
The Technology Behind Our Solution
Our device utilizes multispectral imaging, where imaging data is collected across a wider range of light bands than just the typical red, green, and blue. By using light sources at specific wavelengths, light-reflecting molecules called chromophores can be identified by their unique fluorescence response. Different chromophores are present at different stages of a bruise's healing cycle, meaning analyzing their concentrations can effectively age a bruise even days after initial injury. These results are independent of skin tone and will be accurate for any patient.
Our Research Stands on Our Core Values
Be Students First, and Learn
Empowering Justice
Good Science Practices
Professionals at Work
High Engineering Quality
Security in Intellectual Property
Our end goal is to create a device capable of fitting to a smartphone for portability and convenience, allowing forensic and medical professionals to always be prepared to analyze a bruise for evidence or treatment purposes. Our current IRB-approved prototype device is already prepared to begin building a robust bruise imaging dataset that will power the miniaturized and portable version, bringing us ever closer to revolutionizing the practice of hematology in justice and medicine.