Why We Built Dermi Atlas

Dermi Atlas emerged from years of research in dermatological imaging and from a plain gap: in many practices, clinical photography still ran on consumer tools or on photo attachments in the EHR.

From Research to Platform

The research that preceded Dermi Atlas, and the decision to build a dedicated platform, are covered in Starting Dermi: From Research Projects to a Clinical Platform.

Identifying the Gap

In dermatology practices around the world, clinical photography follows a remarkably similar pattern. Photos are taken on smartphones, stored in camera rolls alongside personal images, and sometimes transferred to shared drives or cloud services that were never designed for protected health information. Consent documentation is handled on paper or skipped entirely. There is no consistent way to compare images over time, and audit trails are nonexistent.

This is not a niche problem. Clinical photography is fundamental to dermatological practice. It supports diagnosis, treatment planning, progress tracking, and patient communication. Yet the tools used for this critical function are often the least secure and least purpose-built components in the clinical workflow.

Data Ownership and On-Premises Deployment

Dermi Atlas was built with a specific conviction: patient imaging data should remain under the direct control of the healthcare practice that creates it. This principle shaped every architectural decision in the platform. Rather than building yet another cloud service that aggregates sensitive health data on remote servers, an on-premises model was chosen. The practice owns the data, the infrastructure, and the access controls.

This approach introduces some complexity compared to a pure SaaS model. A deployment tool was needed, which became Dermi Atlas Manager. Certificates for encrypted connections had to be managed locally, so Dermi Atlas Manager handles them. Backups required a different strategy, so incremental local backups with in-place restore and export were developed.

Comparison, Tagging, Consent, and Exports

Rather than adapting a generic imaging platform, Dermi Atlas was designed for the clinical photography workflows that med spas, aesthetic clinics, plastic surgery, and dermatology practices rely on. Image comparison tools support both split-view and overlay modes for tracking changes over time. A structured tagging system enables consistent organization of clinical images. Consent management is integrated directly into the patient workflow. PDF exports are available for clinical documentation and referrals.

Privacy and the Business Model

Practices pay for the software, and Dermi has no data monetization model; what Dermi receives from a deployment is described in the Dermi Privacy Policy.

Planned Capabilities

Background removal for clinical photographs is planned.