New Video Game Aimed at Dermatologist Education

Level Ex, a creator of medical video games for physicians, recently announced its new game called Top Derm, a mobile medical game aimed toward the dermatology field.¹ This is the company’s fifth specialty specific game and covers multiple topics with original dermatology imagery and will soon provide the opportunity to earn continuing medical education (CME) credits. 

Level Ex used the DeepSkinFX Generator, which can create detailed, medically accurate imagery of skin disorders on all regions of the body and skin types. Top Derm is aiming to give dermatologists the ability to visualize and understand a wide variety of disorders at any time, according to a press release announcing the game. 

“Over 140 dermatologists collaborated with the video game industry’s top designers, developers, and artists to advance the field of dermatology through play,” said Sam Glassenberg, CEO and founder of Level Ex, Chicago, Illinois. “As someone who has spent his career pushing the cutting-edge of video game graphics, I’m especially impressed by what we’ve achieved visually with our computer-generated images in Top Derm. Using industry-leading VFX technology, we’ve built a system capable of rendering images so realistic that dermatologists struggle to discern them from real photos.”

Features include:

• Specialty content crafted by experts in dermatology combined with elements of interactive play.
• Challenges that cover a wide variety of topics including skin cancer, pediatric dermatology, adult dermatology, cosmetic dermatology, and surgical dermatology.
• A variety of challenge types that integrate evidence-based research with imagery to ensure they are interesting and fun.
• Personalized content recommendations tailored to specific interests and play preferences.
• New content and challenges released on a regular basis to keep dermatologists up-to-speed on the latest advancements in the industry.
• Supplemental reference material for a deeper dive into each challenge topic.
• Expertise Maps that analyze performance with dynamic reports showing progress, areas of strength, and improvement opportunities.
• DeepSkinFX Generator computer-generated images to help dermatologists recognize any skin disorder, on any region of the body, regardless of skin tone.
• High-resolution clinical imagery for close-up study.
• The ability to support dermatology colleagues and advance the field by submitting content and leaving feedback.

“The use of gaming for medical education is something I have been passionate about for quite some time,” said Peter Lio, MD, Medical Dermatology Associates of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, in the release. “Top Derm is a unique resource leveraging technological advancements to help train and reinforce identification of a wide range of disorders and diseases on different skin tones and in different lighting conditions; it’s a fun and interactive experience that educates us on important topics that impact many dermatology patients.”

Level Ex does plan to implement multiplayer challenges and social features to create in-game discussions between dermatologists. Top Derm is available for free in the App Store and Google Play. 

Reference:

1. Level ex expands into dermatology with launch of top derm. Published June 28, 2021. Accessed July 15, 2021. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210628005072/en/Level-Ex%C2%AE-Expands-into-Dermatology-with-Launch-of-Top-Derm