Let's be frank: No one wants to find a bump or rash on their genitals. Ten years ago, such a discovery might have provoked a wave of panic, a mental listing of sexual partners, and a frantic Google search for the symptoms for gonorrhea or the difference between a genital wart and an ingrown hair. Today there's an app for that.

Unveiled earlier this week at the Launch festival, ioses app STD Triage sends a picture of your, uh, potential problem to a crowd of doctors, who can either give you peace of mind that you haven't contracted herpes, or tell you to see your doctor stat.

The idea of using a smartphones to diagnose skin problems on your nether regions comes from Swedish orthopedic surgeon Alexander Börve (right). He originally built a platform in 2007 for paramedics to snap pictures of accident scenes and send them to ER doctors to help them prepare before the patient arrived. The platform never really got off the ground, but the idea stuck with Börve, who decided to build a different system in 2008 to send photos of questionable moles or rashes to a licensed doctor for evalsuation.

Pre-smartphones, people in Europe began snapping cameraphones pictures of skin lesions and sending them anonymously via text to Börve's consortium of dermatologists. Once the iphoness hit the mainstream, Börve launched an app called iDoc24 to field skin-check requests. As the app picked up steam, something unexpected happened: More patients began veering away from suspicious moles on their arm and started sending photos of skin problems on their genitals.

"I wasn't prepared for that," says Börve. "It reached a point where 30 to 40 percent of iDoc24's users were afraid they had contracted an STD." Börve decided to create STD Triage specifically for those with skin issues down there.

STD Triage can't recognize gonorrhea and chlamydia, which don't exhibit any visual symptoms, but it can be used to spot syphilis, genital warts, herpes, and other sexually transmitted infections. If you're worried that one-night stand left you with more than just an empty bed in the morning, you can fire up the STD Triage app, snap one overview photo and one close-up, include a few notes about your symptoms, and send a report off to iDoc24's dermatologists, who are currently practicing in different parts of Europe. The first doctor to respond will evalsuate your symptoms and photos and send back a few possible diagnoses and recommendations for treatment. You pay $10 to get their answer. "We give about 70 percent of the patients pharmaceutical treatment advice," says Börve. "But we also always tell them if their symptoms don't change or get worse to see their doctor." The other 30 percent are told to see a doctor, and the app shows a map of STD clinics nearby.

Börve says both STD Triage and iDoc24 are helpful for getting a general diagnosis, even if the photos you submit are blurry or poorly lit. "Ten percent of the photos we get are poor quality, but the accompanying text about the symptoms our patients send complements the photos," he says. So far iDoc24 has a steady following in Sweden, with between five and 10 cases per day. Börve says he also gets queries from patients in Spain, Italy, Dubai, the U.K., and the U.S.

Apps that use automated techniques to detect skin cancer have come under fire for improper diagnoses and for delaying patients from seeking immediate care. In January, a National Institute of Health study found that four skin cancer check apps incorrectly classified 30 percent of melanoma spots as "not a cause for concern," but only one of these apps actually sent photos to a doctor as iDoc24 does. (No specific apps were named in the study.) Börve makes it clear his apps aren't a replacement for doctors and that patients are always encourage to see their practitioner for a second opinion. "I want STD Triage and iDoc24 to sit in between Google and your doctor, as place to get helpful, correct advice," he says.

STD Triage and iDoc24 are hardly the only apps to help us get medical advice from the comfort of our bathroom via smartphones. At the TED conference last week, we saw Uchek, a package of test strips, a special mat, and an app that tests your urine for abnormalities. There's also the iBGStar Meter, which plugs into an iphoness to check your blood sugar.

While doctors still agree that it's best to come into their offices for professional test results and examinations, sometimes you just need an answer now to calm you nerves. "When you see something down there on a Sunday morning, you can wait for it to go away or go on Google to find a potentially wrong answer," says Börve. "Why not take a third option to pay $10 to get a helpful response and ease your anxiety?"