The role of dermatoscopy in skin neoplasms diagnostics in children and adolescents

Abstract

Information about the natural nevogenesis of pigmented skin lesions, evolutionary and morphological features in pediatric patients is still rare in the medical literature despite the progress in dermatooncology. Clinical examination or analysis with the naked eye of skin neoplasms carries a certain diagnostic information content. However, this method is much less informative compared to the use of an epiluminescent microscope. Dermoscopy of skin neoplasms is a non-invasive highly informative diagnostic method. Nowadays, the technique is widely used in the clinical practice of pediatric oncodermatologists. This painless diagnosis is ideal for a primary analysis of the morphological picture melanocytic or other skin neoplasms, malignancy risk assessment and determining the tactics of managing pediatric patients. The necessity for differential diagnosis the spectrum of skin neoplasms dictates a trend towards improving research methods and an age-adapted approach. The method of skin microscopy can be attributed to the methods of choice among those currently available. The history of method, diagnostic informativeness and detailed morphological characteristics of melanocytic skin neoplasms in children and adolescents are presented.