We all communicate with our faces – happiness, surprise, anger, caring…89% of people with Parkinson’s lose some or all their facial expressions. This is called hypomimia and it’s a barrier to an important part of communication.

Facial exercises are available to help slow the loss but only 3% of those with Parkinson’s find the time to fit them into their schedules. Dentsu Creative Argentina, Brazil and USA came up with a solution, Scrolling Therapy, for Brazilian pharmaceutical company, Eurofarma, with the support of the Associação Brasil Parkinson and colleague, Sebastián Porta, a patient with the disease, who expressed the need to do something to help the Parkinson’s community.

Scrolling Therapy uses AI-powered facial recognition, to encourages users to practise making expressions for the recommended 45 minutes a day by allowing them to use facial expressions to scroll through social media. Different facial expressions, such as smiling, surprise or sadness, become controls that allow users to scroll up or down, swipe or play videos. The app is integrated with Facebook and Instagram.

“We saw the opportunity to create an idea in the purest form. An existing (and growing) technology added to an actual Parkinson’s therapy to offer a life-changing routine for patients, giving them a new way to engage in their therapies in their spare time, browsing social media and keeping up with them. connected with their loved ones and their emotions,” stated Gastón Cánaves, executive creative director of Dentsu Creative Argentina.

Scrolling Therapy is available in three languages, English, Portuguese and Spanish, for free on Google Play and soon on the Apple App Store.