Dermoscopic and histopathologic correlations

Abstract

Dermoscopy is a widely diffused technique that offers the possibility to analyze subsurface structures not otherwise visible by naked eye. It has been proved that dermoscopy is an essential clinical tool in the hands of experts for diagnostic definition of melanocytic and non-melanocytic skin lesions, while improving diagnostic accuracy [1]. In addition to dermoscopy, reflectance-mode confocal microscopy (RCM) holds the great advantage to explore histological details of skin tissue, in vivo and in real time. Similarly to dermoscopy RCM produces images corresponding to horizontal section of the skin from the epidermis surface to the papillary dermis but offering a cellular level resolution, similarly to histopathology. Thus, it seems to be the natural link between dermoscopy and histopathology.