Take A Dick Pic, Get An Answer About STIs? Nice Try, But No…..

AI is not a substitute for a medical professional!

We all have Funky Skin Things happen to our bodies on occasion. Skin is our biggest organ; there are many ways it can look or feel weird and many medical conditions involve skin symptoms. Sometimes we have a Funky Skin Thing in the genital area and there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth when we see or feel those things, especially if we’ve been having unprotected sex or used protection and it failed.

A new AI-based app called Calmara is aimed at helping discern what those things might be, but is it arguably a substitute for a medical professional? The basic concept of Calmara, which is designed exclusively for people with penises and happily crows about being currently free to use, is that the user takes a picture of a suspicious skin anomaly on their genitals and Calmara’s AI determines whether or not said bump, sore, rash, or lesion is indicative that the user has an STI and spits out a vague idea of what it might be if so. Calmara even has a fancy white paper on their site that tells us how their AI was found to be 94% accurate. If you read their FAQ, they don’t make any wild claims and do openly advise that it’s not a substitute for treatment from a medical professional. This is important to understand to avoid getting a false sense of security, not to mention the data privacy implications because you really have no idea where the picture is going once it leaves your device.

I asked Barbara Wilgus, a nurse practitioner specializing in the sexual health field, her professional opinion of Calmara. It was not positive. “While yes, lesions in the genital area can be of concern, there is no way an accurate diagnosis can be made from just a picture, especially when said picture is being interpreted by artificial intelligence. Many infections can mimic symptoms of other infections, many seemingly benign lesions may not be, and many things you may think look like an infection may actually be benign. The best recommendation for a genital lesion is to be examined and tested by a healthcare professional. As for "in the moment", while we all wish for a magic wand to let us know everything will be fine, if you see a genital lesion and would be concerned enough to use this app, maybe that concern is the thing you should take heed of."

Herpes patient, advocate, and self-described sex and culture critic Ella Dawson sounded off on Calmara over at her blog and goes into a lot of depth if you are looking for even further reasons to steer clear. TechCrunch weighs in on the privacy and lack thereof over here. From all angles, it appears, Calmara may fall into the "too good to be true" category.

STI testing in the United States is widely available at in-person clinics such as Planned Parenthood (in my state, they also offer telehealth STI testing, but it may vary by state). But if you’d rather use an at-home test kit, which most patients are eligible to use, many sites offer these services such as EverlyWell or Nurx. Nurx also offers other services such as birth control, emergency contraception, and treatment for yeast infections and UTIs. Mistr offers telehealth STI testing and treatment to all genders, as well as dispensing PrEP medications through a legitimate and secure telehealth platform. There are a lot of options out there to properly manage your sexual health, thanks in part to the pandemic forcing telemedicine to innovate and expand quickly in the last four years, so there’s no excuse not to know your status. And, if you do use an AI for self-diagnosis, understand that seeking the advice of a medical professional is always the best option.