UC Irvine

Approximately 10 million people in the United States suffer from domestic violence annually, with 4 out of 10 cases affecting people of color. Traditional coloration guides remain the primary forensic strategy to evaluate bruise injuries, which are highly subjective and inaccurate for monitoring bruises. Additionally, this approach fails to consider bruise pigmentation in darker skin tones, and the results of this qualitative method vary by the medical professional conducting the inspection. There is a need for reliable, quantitative bruise information across all skin tones that can be utilized in both medicine and justice. DermaVision aims to address this need by designing a portable multi-spectral camera to quantitatively analyze bruises in diverse skin tones. By correlating the reflective spectra of a bruise with its age and healing progression, our camera will provide an accurate timeline for when bruises occur irrespective of patients’ skin color. This technology will assist forensics and medical professionals in improving their analyses and treatments and can provide valuable, admissible evidence in courts. For Validation purposes, a prototype imaging device has been developed to gather preliminary clinical data in collaboration with the University of California, Irvine Trauma Center. The team remains motivated to build a secure and reliable imaging tool that can serve the diverse population of domestic violence survivors. Faculty advisor Professor Elliot Botvinick