The dermatoscope is a tool that is part of the dermatological consultation. What does it look like ? How does it work ? Information on the dermatoscope.

The dermatoscope is a portable instrument which is an essential aid for dermatologists to make a diagnosis. Dermatoscopy or dermoscopy performed with a dermatoscope is a technique used by dermatologists to more precisely study various skin lesions.

Composition

The dermatoscope is a tool composed of a magnifying glass and a light, polarized or unpolarized. This illuminating magnifying glass magnifies 10 times and allows you to better visualize the skin in its thickness, in its superficial part.

The basic device consists of a lens that magnifies 10 times, with variable focal length, LED lighting, and a transparent contact plate (polarized or not).

The dermatoscope is used by dermatologists in particular for better diagnostic precision of pigmented lesions and in general of skin cancers, carcinomas and melanomas in particular.

Dermatoscopy performed with a dermatoscope is also used to aid in the diagnosis of various skin diseases, inflammatory and infectious (eg scabies), pathologies of the scalp, nails and mucous membranes outside the oral cavity.

It is also very useful for diagnosing multiple banal and benign lesions:

• seborrheic keratoses;
• dermatofibromes;
• capillary angiomas,
• etc.

Dermatoscope: examination of pigmented lesions

The dermatoscope makes it possible to distinguish the melanocytic (nevus, melanoma) or non-melanocytic (seborrheic keratosis, carcinoma, angioma) nature of a pigmented skin lesion and to assess its benign or malignant nature.

Prince of dermoscopy

Dermoscopy (also known as dermatoscopy or epiluminescence microscopy, or surface microscopy) is an examination technique that allows the observation of the morphological structures of the epidermis, not visible to the naked eye.

Public concerned or at risk

The dermatoscope is used by the dermatologist when this specialist needs to see your skin in depth.

The stages of operation

The optical device is simply applied to the skin by the dermatologist, who holds it in his hand. It’s a perfectly painless exam that only lasts a few minutes.

When to use it?

The dermatologist uses a dermatoscope when one of his patients has skin lesions.

This allows him to visualize the microscopic structures of the epidermis and dermis.

Precautions to take

Make-up and put on nail polish before going to the dermatologist should be avoided because make-up and nail polish cause discomfort for this examination.

Tanning thickens the epidermis, which makes examination with a dermatoscope less relevant.

There are two systems of dermatoscopy:

• immersion dermoscopy which uses an immersion liquid (water, oil, alcohol, gel) at the skin-dermoscope interface making it possible to reduce the reflection of light by the stratum corneum;
• polarized light dermoscopy (with or without skin contact) which uses a filter to block reflected light.

“Hybrid” dermoscopes make it possible to switch from polarized to non-polarized mode, which improves dermoscopic diagnosis because these two modes provide complementary information. The non-polarized mode better visualizes the superficial layers of the skin, while the polarized mode better assesses the deeper layers.

The digital dermatoscope

The digital dermatoscope is equipped with an integrated camera which allows the image to be viewed on a screen and the magnification to be increased (videodermatoscopy). This examination makes it possible to constitute a map of all the nevi of patients at high risk of melanoma.

It also makes it possible to obtain standardized and reproducible images of a skin lesion, to take and store digital photographs of the lesions photographed under the same conditions, making it possible to follow their evolution between two appointments, by comparing the two images taken. during these two consultations.

Digital dermoscopy is effective in an early detection strategy for melanoma in a targeted population at very high risk of melanoma.