Dermoscopy: The Essentials by Soyer H. Peter & Argenziano Giuseppe & Hofmann-Wellenhof Rainer & Zalaudek Iris

Author:Soyer, H. Peter & Argenziano, Giuseppe & Hofmann-Wellenhof, Rainer & Zalaudek, Iris [Soyer, H. Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780702048166
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences UK
Published: 2011-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Introduction

When you examine a skin lesion with dermoscopy, it might be obviously benign or malignant. There is also a gray zone of equivocal lesions. Gray-zone lesions will commonly be encountered by the novice dermoscopist. To help deal with this common situation, we offer a few suggestions. Learn the basics, practice the technique as often as possible, and develop a dermoscopic differential diagnosis.

You have to be able to think things through logically, weighing the pros and cons for each criterion or pattern that you see. Coming up with a tentative dermoscopic diagnosis, or in many cases, a dermoscopic differential diagnosis, is the end of the process.

For example, are the round to oval yellow dots and globules you see the milia-like cysts of a seborrheic keratosis or the follicular ostia of a melanocytic lesion? What a difference that distinction could make. You could be dealing with a seborrheic keratosis or a lentigo maligna. Are those the brown dots and globules of a melanocytic lesion, or the pigmented follicular openings of a seborrheic keratosis? You notice that the lesion has some blood vessels. Are they the thickened branched vessels of a basal cell carcinoma, or the irregular linear vessels that can be found in melanomas?

We regret to inform you that you will encounter difficult lesions—lesions that even the most experienced dermoscopist will not feel confident with. That is the state of the art as it exists today. There are infinite variations of criteria, patterns, and lesions. The scenarios in this final chapter demonstrate the dermoscopic thought process we employ. Focus your attention, use what you have learned in the first two chapters of the book, and you will find that you will learn and grow with each case. Do not be intimidated by what you see. We guarantee that you can master this technique. You will develop your own style of dermoscopic analysis and find that dermoscopy will become an essential part of your practice. You will not be able to practice without it!

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