How to photograph a mole or rash consistently

The routine

Do the same thing every time. Consistency beats quality.

• Same light: daylight from a window, no flash, no overhead bulb. Flash flattens texture and shifts colour.
• Same distance: about 15 cm for a mole, a full limb for a rash. Put a coin or a ruler next to a mole for scale.
• Same angle: straight on, not tilted. For a back or shoulder, ask the same person to help each time.
• Two shots: one close, one showing where on the body it is. The context shot is what makes the close-up findable a year later.
• Same day: pick a weekday and a reminder. A dated series with even spacing is far easier to read than a random one.

What to write down with the photo

A severity score from one to ten, even if it feels arbitrary. Over months, your own scale becomes consistent and the trend is real. Then a line of notes: itching, new cream, wool sweater, stress, sun. Triggers only show up when a month of notes sits beside a month of scores.

For a mole, note the size in millimetres from the ruler and anything about the edge or colour you noticed. You are not diagnosing; you are recording.

Keeping the timeline

Keep one log for skin, with a text variable for the area marked as tracked individually, so the forearm patch and the back mole each have their own stats and their own photo series. The app orders entries by date, so scrolling one area is flipping through the timeline.

Before an appointment, open the area, scroll from the oldest entry, and hand over the phone. That is the record the doctor wanted.

When to stop photographing and go in

A mole that changes in size, shape, colour or edge, that itches or bleeds, or that simply looks different from all the others: that is a doctor's visit, not another photo. The log makes the visit better; it never replaces it.