The purpose of dermoscopy in Primary Care
-
Dermoscopy acts as an aid in the diagnosis of skin lesions
-
It must not be used in isolation but instead combined with a good history and naked eye examination
-
Dermoscopy can be performed by dermatologists, GPwSI and GPs who have undertaken appropriate training in the technique
-
Dermoscopy has an important learning curve:
-
The main role of dermoscopy in Primary Care is to help identify benign lesions. The majority of seborrhoeic keratoses, angioma, dermatofibroma and blue naevi can be readily identified with a dermatoscope. This can help reduce referrals / unnecessary skin surgery
-
Dermoscopy can also aid in the diagnosis of pre-cancerous lesions such as actinic keratoses and Bowen's disease, as well as basal cell carcinoma
-
Considerable experience is often required to differentiate between various benign melanocytic naevi, aytpical naevi and melanoma, indeed some cases of melanoma have very subtle dermoscopic features. As such the dermoscopic assessment of melanocytic lesions is best left to a specialist, and as such all melanocytic lesions that are suspicous of melanoma in terms of the history and naked-eye examination should be referred to Secondary Care as a 2 Week Rule, regardless of their dermoscopic appearance
follow @PCDSUK