Identification & Enhancement of Different Skin
Lesion Images by Segmentation Techniques
Neetu Mittall, SudhirTanwar2, Sunil Kumar Khatri3
1,2,3
Amity Institute of Information Technology,
Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, INDIA
1
savini09@gmail.com, 2stanwar.44@gmail.com, 3skkhatri@amity.edu, 4sunilkkhatri@gmail.com
Abstract — A skin lesion is a portion of skin with an abnormal
growth or presence due to a skin disease. Skin diseases at their
early stages can be cured very easily; otherwise they begin to
spread to other parts of the body and may be deadly. An early
detection of skin disease is essential for such patients. Due to the
high cost involved in various dermatology testing procedures for
every patient, an automated system is required to give better
lesion images and vision to help the doctors to further diagnose
and prescribe the correct prescription and medication. In this
paper, an innovative approach for automatic identification of skin
lesions is proposed. To improve the quality of skin lesion images,
Median filtering and Sobel edge detection techniques have been
implemented for filtering and segmentation. The efficacy of the
proposed work has been verified by measuring the entropy of the
resultant images obtained for different skin diseases. The
performance is tested on a dataset of 70 samples from 150 medical
images of different body parts with 10 different classes of skin
diseases.
Keywords — Medical Images; Skin lesions; Imаge Enhаncement;
Noise Filtering; Sobel Edge detection.
I. INTRODUCTION
Segmentation stage is one of the most important stages to
detect skin lesions from medical images due to its high
accuracy. Apart from accuracy the main aim of the
segmentation is speed and computational efficiency.
Segmentation is the separation of input image into skin and
non-skin pixels based on skin texture. Different methods for
segmentation of dermoscopic images of skin diseases and
other pigmented lesions have been presented in the
literature.Moderndermoscopic devices offer the option of
retrieval of derma images with storage facility.Many of these
have the ability for Computer Assisted Diagnosis (CAD)[1].
Such devices may help thedermatologist with lesser experience
and provide the better accuracy for variations in derma cases.
Dermatoscopes [2] are commonly used to take the skin lesion
images.
There are large variations in such images due to changes in
color of skin, different sources and multiple reasons such as
hairs, skin tone, water bubbles or skin lines [3-4].
Therefore,fully automated segmentation is a challenging and
complex job to achieve. A detailed survey of image
segmentation of skin lesion was presentedby Celebi[5].A
technique based on adaptive and global thresholding with
clustering approach was proposed by Soille [6]. This technique
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results in better performance for the skin lesion segmentation.
Further, it has been observed that the degraded results were
obtained for the skin images with poor contract between
background skin and lesions. The global thresholding gives
inferior results because of the theory that the skin images have
bimodal histogram. Fordermoscopic images a fully automated
technique for segmentation has proposed by krunk et al. [7].
The histogram thresholding has been utilized on three RGB
colors by the authors. A function based method has been
proposed by celebi et al.[8]. The fusion of four different
algorithms [9-11] has been implemented using more than one
threshold on number of skin images.Humayun et al. [12]
presented a multi threshold algorithm to divide the histogram
of skin images by means of iteration into a number of classes
by threshold selection for every class utilizing different
technique. The segmentation was done by a different approach
using double threshold [13]. A comparative analysis between
the different segmentation methods [14] with the different
computerized images[15] has been derived in literature. Now a
days, computer assisted diagnosis system which uses personal
health profiles helps patient and doctors as well in medical
decision making [16]. Active contour algorithm has been used
by Abuzaghleh et al. [17] along with parse-fields level set
method for lesion segmentation.
In this paper ten different types of skin diseases have been
considered. The paper starts with introduction. Section II states
Image processing techniques including noise filtering and edge
detection segmentation techniques. Section III states the
proposed methodology. Section IV discusses the data set
description used for analysis. Section V comprised of
parameters to measure the quality of processed images. The
results and discussions of proposed work are presented in
Section VI. The conclusion is presented at the end.
II. IMAGE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES
IMPLEMENTED
A. Image pre processing
For further processing, raw data is transformed into an easy
format by means of image pre-processing. The available data
in real time are incomplete and inconsistent with multiple
errors. The unnecessary features and noise has to be removed
causing no uncertainty to classifiers. The commonly used pre-
processing techniques are as follows-
 2017 6th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (ICRITO) (Trends and Future Directions), Sep. 20-22, 2017,
1) Hair remover
The hairs have been removed from skin images by enhanced
dull razor algorithm. The morphological closing image
processing has been implemented for gray level
images.Further, elongated, narrow hair outline has been
identified. The identified pixels of hairs have been replaced by
bilinear interpolation. The fill operation is performed based on
the interpolation technique in Matlab environment. A smooth
fill is obtained by this method from the borders of regions of
interest.
2) Contrast enhancement
The clarity in skin images may by increased by improving the
edge and shape of the skin image. The borders of the image
may be sharpened by contrast enhancement. Thus, the
accuracy of segmentation may be improved further.
3) Gray Scale Conversion
Saturation and hue have been removed from RGB lesions
images to transform to grayscale images. The weighted sum of
color components has been computed in this technique.
4) Noise filtering
The pepper and salt noise has been removed by median
filtering efficiently. Therefore, the effect of small hairs and
border line pixel regions is reduced.
B) Segmentation
This method is used to find the size and shape of the border
and to separate the skin lesions from the
background.Thistechnique relies on the number of features
extracted from the skin images. Firstly, the noise is to be
removed from the skin lesion and thereafter lesion is to be
separated from background skin. Thus, the medical diagnosis
may be carried out basedon requiredarea only. In image
analysis, image segmentation isnecessarily required. The
image segmentation is used to separate the image under
consideration into a number of parts. Depending upon the
problem under consideration, the amount of separation is
carried out. If the skin part under consideration is not able to
access, the segmentation process needs to be stopped. The
segmentation process depends on the similarity and
discontinuity of intensity of images. The similarity depends on
partitioning an image into similar regions.On the other hand,
discontinuity is based on sudden changes in intensity values.
Therefore, the selection of segmentation method is based on
the task to be performed. In literature, a number of methods
have been proposed for segmentation such as threshold based,
watershed segmentation, region growing, split and merge
segmentation and edge based segmentation.
C) Edge detection techniques
The edge detection techniques arethe basic tools used for
image segmentation. The quantity of image data under process
may get significantly reduced by edge representation method.
But, still the necessary information such as shape etc is
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AIIT, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India
retained. In a huge set of object recognition methods, edge
detection technique is an easy way to implement.The main aim
of edge detection method is to extract the exactly same edges
with excellent orientation. There is no pre define set of rules to
judge the performance of an edge detection technique in spite
the availability of large literature. The performance is
commonly judged by the experience of an individual
depending upon the task in hand.
The edge detection techniques change the available, raw
images into a number of edges taking advantage of change in
grey tones. In a grey image primarily the localization of
changes is considered and geometrical and physical properties
of the image part are detected. The edge detection technique
detects and provides an outline of an object and background in
an image.
It is the fundamental technique for detection of major
discontinuities in intensity in an image. Between two areas,
edges normally occur. Thus, the primary features of an image
can be extracted from its edges. The edge detection technique
features are implemented in an algorithm used by computer
vision. Edge detection mechanism is utilized in many
applications such as biometrics, medical images etc. This is a
modern tool used for research purposes.
In grey level images, three types of discontinuities normally
occur viz- point, line and edges. To detect these discontinuities
special type of masks can be utilized. The most commonly
implemented edge detection methods based on discontinuity
are– Sobel edge detection,Roberts edge detection, Kirsh edge
detection,Prewitt edge detection, canny edge detection,
Robinson edge detection, LOG edge detection and Marr
hildreth edge detection etc. In this paper Sobel edge detection
operator has been implemented to provide the sharpness to the
image.
Sobel Edge Detection Technique
The sobel edge detection method was proposed by sobel. This
technique searches edges for image segmentation using the
approximation introduced by sobel. The edges where the
derivatives are highest are considered. This method implement
a two dimensional gradient on an image. It shows the regions
of high frequency corresponding to edges. Normally, it finds
the magnitude of estimated derivative at every point in a
greyscale image.In conjecture at least the operator consists of a
pair of 3x3 complication kernels as given away in under Table
I and II.
TABLE I: 3x3 complexity kernel
-1 -2 -1
0 0 0
+1 +2 +1
TABLE II: complexity kernel rotated by 900
-1 0 -1
 2017 6th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (ICRITO) (Trends and Future Directions), Sep. 20-22, 2017,
AIIT, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India

-2 0 +2 = −∑ . log (1)
-1 0 +1
Where L is the total of grey levels, = { 0, 1… −1} is the
III. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY probability distribution of each level.

The aim of this work is to design and develop a computer

vision technique for filtration and segmentation of skin
lesions.The overview of the proposed method is shown inflow
chart in Fig.1.

Fig. (a) Boil

Fig. (b) Cellutits

Fig. 1. Flow Chart for Proposed Methodology

IV. SAMPLE IMAGES DESCRIPTION

Collection of suitable database is the crucial task for any

research. Data set is the primary level requirement for any
analysis, but availability of data set and sometimespermission
to access the data set is a challenging job. Therefore, in this Fig. (c) Cold sores
research work, own data set is created for analysis. Samples of
10 different types of diseasesare taken and further 7 images of
each disease for the analysis are considered. The collected
images show the large interclass variations.

In a total sample of 70 images, 10 different classes of skin

diseases are collected out of which 7 each [Fig2(a-j)] are from
Boil,Cellutits, cold sores, corns &calluses, dyshidrotic,
impetigo, malluscumcontagiosum, neuro fibromatosis, Fig. (d) Corns & Calluses
psoriasis and skintag.

V. QUALITY MEASURING PARAMETERS

Entropy is a quantitative parameter to judge the image quality.

Entropy is a statistical measure used to characterize the texture
of input image. Entropy quantifiesthe amount of information
within the image needed for the image enhancement. Entropy
measures the loss of information or message in a transmitted
signal with image information. If all the pixels have same
Fig. (e) Dyshidrotic
value the entropy is zero. If all the pixels have same value the
entropy is zero. If the entropy of image is high then it is
assumed the image has high image information. If value of
entropy of resultant image becomes higher, it indicates better
quality. Therefore, larger the value of entropy better is the
image. Mathematically entropy is given by

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2017 6th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (ICRITO) (Trends and Future Directions), Sep. 20-22, 2017,
AIIT, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India

Fig. (f) Impetigo

Fig. 3. Extraction of Image Features

VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this work, median filtering has been applied to remove the

noise from 10 different types of medical images. Further, the
Fig. (g) Neuro Fibromatosis edge detection segmentation technique with sobel operatorhas
been implemented. Entropy has been used as a performance
measuring parameter to evaluate the quality of original images
and segmented images.

The comparison of Matlab results(Table III)for original images

with segmented images show that the entropy has been
increased from 2.66 to 2.89, 2.72 to 2.73, 2.95 to 2.97,2.74 to
3.01, 2.50 to 2.56, 2.18 to 2.58, 2.53 to 2.57, 2.95 to 3.06, 2.57
to 2.68 and 2.67 to 2.74 for boil, cellutits, cold sores, corns and
Fig. (h)Psoriasis calluses, dyshidrotic, impetigo, malluscumcontagiosum, neuro
fibromatosis, psoriasis and skintagskin diseases respectively.
Thus, the efficacy of the proposed technique is verified.

TABLE III: Original &Segmented Images With Their Entropy

Value

SN Type of Measuring Original Image Segmented Image

Disease Parameter

Fig. (i) Malluscumcontagiosum

1 Boil

Entropy 2.66 2.89

Fig. (j) Skintag

Fig. 2 (a-j) Types of Skin Diseases 2 Cellutits

Entropy 2.72 2.73

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 2017 6th International Conference on Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (ICRITO) (Trends and Future Directions), Sep. 20-22, 2017,
AIIT, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, India

9 Psoriasis

Cold sores
3

Entropy 2.57 2.68

Entropy 2.95 2.97

10 Skintag

Corns &
4 calluses

Entropy 2.67 2.74

Entropy 2.74 3.01

VII. CONCLUSION

An automatic approach for segmentation of medical images

Dyshidrotic using Image Segmentation has been proposed.In this paper,
5 segmentation and filtration have been carried out on different
types of skin diseases on different body parts.Median filter has
been used to remove the noise from the original input image.
Entropy 2.50 2.56 Further, segmentation process is applied with sobel edge
detection operator. It has been observed that there is
aremarkable improvement in the entropy value after filtration
and segmentation. This indicates an improvement in sharpness
and quality of resultant images.The proposed work gives better
visualization of the medical images and mayassist dermatologist
6 Impetigo for easydiagnosis, identification and analysis of skin lesions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Entropy 2.18 2.58 Authors express their deep sense of gratitude to The Founder
President of Amity Group, Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, for his keen
interest in promoting research in Amity University and have
always been an inspiration for achieving great heights.
Malluscumcont
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