DERMOSCOPY

Dermoscopy involves examining lesions on your skin with a small handheld microscope. Magnification levels are typically about 10x the naked eye view.

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While many people suggest a bigger device might be better, having a fairly small field of view forces us to look at one lesion at a time and not skip past potentially significant spots.

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Most of our examination is done using “polarised” dermoscopy. This technique uses polarised light and polarising filters to block the reflected light off the skin surface allowing us to see the structures deeper in the skin that make up the lesion. This is similar to using polarised sunglasses to block reflections. A common example is being able to see fish underwater while using polarised glasses to block the surface reflections.

 

We also selectively use “non polarised” dermoscopy. Typically this requires an oil or alcohol surface interface but it allows us to see more superficial and particular types of structures more clearly.

 

Dermoscopy allows an expert user to detect significantly more skin cancers at an earlier stage resulting in better patient outcomes.