Design of a Teledermatology App for Rural Communities in Cross River State

Skin diseases are among the most common health complaints in rural Nigeria, yet access to trained dermatologists in Cross River State's South South interior communities is severely limited. This project designs a teledermatology mobile application enabling rural residents to consult dermatologists remotely through image submission and asynchronous review. The application was developed using Flutter for iOS and Android, with a Firebase Firestore backend handling image storage and consultation records. The research methodology applies the design thinking process, beginning with empathy mapping sessions conducted in Ogoja and Obubra communities to define user needs. Key features include skin lesion photo submission, patient medical history forms, dermatologist dashboard for remote review, and secure consultation result delivery. A two-month pilot involving 80 rural residents and three consulting dermatologists from the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital measured consultation turnaround time, diagnostic agreement rate with in-person review, and user satisfaction. Results show a median consultation turnaround of 22 hours and an 81 percent diagnostic concordance with face-to-face dermatology assessments. The study identifies image quality and lighting in rural settings as diagnostic accuracy constraints, recommending in-app photography guidance prompts. This research supports the expansion of telemedicine software engineering to underserved South South Nigerian communities. Keywords: teledermatology, Cross River State, Flutter, telemedicine, rural health