Unless you've made the well-tempered decision to appear on Botched, you assume
what goes on between you and your doctor doesn't leave the examination room… right? Turns out, random people might be getting an up-close look at your embarrassing rashes and suspect moles, thanks to a free app called Figure 1.
Basically Instagram for the medical community, doctors post photos of their patients' weird and gross ailments. The app is barely three years old, has over 1 million users in 190 countries, and averages about 10,000 users per hour. And according to its latest stats, over 65% of medical students in North America are users.
One physician's assistant we spoke with, who wished to remain anonymous, told us she's on the app daily, just slightly less often than her Instagram feed. She uses it to keep up with the latest news in her field and get a look at interesting cases. What kind of "interesting" cases? Growths, rashes, broken limbs, unusual injuries, and all manner of things that have been removed from the body (tumors, cysts, etc.) are among the most common posts. https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/figure-1-app-doctors-share-patient-pictures/tech
