Application and prospects of artificial intelligence in traditional Chinese medicine skin diagnosis

<x>Abstract</x> Inspection is the first of the four diagnoses. Skin inspection is not only an important part of the four diagnoses of Chinese medicine, but also the characteristic and essence of Chinese dermatology. The development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology provides an opportunity for the intelligent research of skin inspection in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This study aims to review the application status of artificial intelligence in TCM skin inspection, and summarize the research progress of various artificial intelligence technologies in skin lesion differentiation, syndrome differentiation and location differentiation, and propose future directions for AI empowerment in TCM dermatology. Based on the basic theory of Chinese medicine and skin clinical thinking of Chinese medicine, this article puts forward the prospect of AI empowerment from the aspects of macro and micro combination, point and surface combination, mind-body combination and time-space combination. This study discusses the existing problems and challenges in the intersection of AI and TCM dermatology. The intersection of AI and TCM dermatological inspection is at the developmental stage. AI has broad application prospects within TCM dermatology, but it also faces numerous challenges. While AI offers opportunities to modernize TCM dermatology, challenges such as aligning AI with TCM’s holistic principles and ensuring clinical relevance remain. Further research integrates AI with TCM skin inspection methods, the intricate connotations and applications of TCM dermatological Inspection will be fully realized, thereby providing reference for the development of artificial intelligence to help TCM dermatology diagnosis and treatment technology.