The use of dermatoscopy in diagnosis and therapy of nonmelanocytic skin cancer

Abstract

Today, dermatoscopy is an integral part of every clinical skin examination, as it mar-kedly enhances the early detection of melanocytic and nonmelanocytic skin cancer (NMSC) compared to naked-eye inspection. Besides its diagnostic use, this noninva-sive method is increasingly important in the selection of as well as the response as-sessment to various therapies used for NMSC, including basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratoses, squamous cell carcinoma, and also rare tumors such as Merkel cell carci-noma, angiosarcoma, or dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans. Thus, dermatoscopy is a valid tool for the preoperative assessment of tumor margins in basal cell carcinoma, but also for follow-up of actinic keratoses after topical treatment. The present article presents an overview on the use of dermatoscopy in the diagnosis and therapy of various types of NMSC.