Color Atlas of Dermatoscopy

In the last few years, the value of the light microscope in the differential diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions has been established by a number of studies. Identification and early diagnosis is particularly important in malignant melanoma, where prognosis is closely correlated with tumour thickness. Through the development of the dermatoscope, which provides a ten-fold magnification over the light microscope, dermatology is now being introduced into daily clinical practice and opens a new morphological level between the micro- and the macro- in the examination of the skin. It is just as important with dermatoscopy as with histology that the practitioner has a good knowledge of important morphological criteria and pigment patterns. Both are essential requisites for successful use of this technique. In order to explain this area of dermatology, this book contains over 190 dermatoscopic photographs. The atlas is designed to provide the dermatologist with a practical guide to dermatoscopic diagnosis for daily use. The book includes a collection of 38 pigmented lesions which are particularly difficult to examine on the macroscopic level, but which can be easily distinguished using dermatoscopy and the correct use of representative criteria. This feature offers the reader an opportunity to test his or her knowledge of dermatology in a problem-orientated way. The appendix contains a tabulated synopsis of dermatoscopic differential diagnosis using primary and secondary image criteria, and points out possible "traps".