Expert system knowledge acquisition for melasma skin diagnosis and treatment with Thai herbal medicine

Thai traditional medicine is a viable alternative medicine and there are a large variety of Thai herbs available for melasma treatment. Spreading the knowledge of Thai herbal medicine to people world-wide should therefore be made a top priority. The development of an expert system for melasma diagnosis and treatment with Thai herbs is the first step in that direction. The aim of this research is to establish knowledge acquisition for an expert system for melasma skin problem diagnosis and treatment with Thai herbal recipe or Thai herbal cosmetics. The study makes use of an expert system, an artificial intelligence technology that has been used for medical diagnosis. In-depth interviews with Thai traditional doctors and dermatologists were arranged in order to gather expert knowledge and skills as primary data for diagnosis of melasma problems and treatment with Thai herbal medicine. The knowledge as secondary data was collected from textbooks of Thai traditional medicine and dermatology, internet, and other open source. The outcome of this research is used to support the building of an expert system for melasma diagnosis and treatment with Thai herbal recipes or Thai herbal cosmetics for alternative medicine for use by the general public.