How is dermoscopy performed?

Skin diseases are relatively common diseases in life. Patients with skin diseases generally need to go to the hospital for treatment. Some skin diseases can be seen with our naked eyes, while some skin diseases are invisible to the naked eye and require the use of instruments to be diagnosed. One of the most commonly used examination methods in dermatology is to use a dermatoscope, which can efficiently and intuitively help doctors diagnose the cause of the disease.

Dermoscopy eliminates reflections from the skin surface and provides optical magnification several to dozens of times, allowing observation of skin structures and changes that are usually invisible to the naked eye, such as the subepidermis, dermal-epidermal junction, and upper dermis. The use of dermoscopy can significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of pigmented and non-pigmented skin lesions. Dermoscopy is used to observe pigmented skin diseases, vascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, differentiation of benign and malignant skin tumors, hair and nail diseases, skin parasitic infections, superficial growths and foreign bodies, etc. for auxiliary diagnosis, differential diagnosis, as well as non-invasive skin monitoring and telemedicine, thereby reducing unnecessary skin biopsies to a certain extent.

What is dermoscopy

Dermatoscopy is a digital image analysis technology developed in recent years that can be used to non-invasively observe morphological features of the skin surface and subepidermis that are invisible to the naked eye. Its characteristics: non-invasive to the body, easy to operate, and can provide auxiliary diagnostic reports after on-site real-time inspection.

This technology is mainly suitable for the diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions and non-pigmented skin lesions and their related skin tumors, such as the classification of nevus cell nevi, malignant transformation of pigmented nevi, malignant melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, seborrheic keratosis, solar keratosis, Bowen's disease, dermatofibroma, hemangioma and hemangioma-related birthmarks and other pigmented lesions that are clinically difficult to distinguish from melanoma, such as the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of longitudinal melanonychia, subungual hemorrhage, and black heel disease. In addition, the diagnosis of lichen planus, flat warts, molluscum contagiosum, acariasis, melanosis, psoriasis, dermatomyositis, purpura and urticaria vasculitis, especially the early diagnosis of vitiligo, is of great significance. In the past, most of these diseases were diagnosed clinically by naked eye, or confirmed by surgical resection of the eye and pathological biopsy. Although the diagnostic results were reliable, they also increased the risk of patient trauma and delayed treatment due to a long diagnostic cycle. Dermoscopic image analysis technology can avoid these shortcomings and reduce the probability of trauma caused by blind surgical resection or biopsy. It can also effectively guide the scope of surgical resection, postoperative follow-up, selection of reasonable physical therapy methods and dynamic monitoring of the course of skin lesions and suspicious lesions in high-risk groups, etc., which are of great clinical significance.

<<: When is it necessary to do anal examination and anoscopy?

>>: What is the process of dermoscopy?