Dermatoscopy (also known as dermoscopy) is the examination of dark-coloured lesions on the skin using an instrument called a dermatoscope. Its main purpose is the early diagnosis of melanoma, or mole cancer. It is also used to examine lesions such as basal cell carcinoma, seborrhoeic keratosis, blue naevi and ordinary moles. A dermatoscope can be thought of roughly as an illuminated magnifying glass. Modern dermatoscopes use polarised light to balance reflections from the skin surface.

The ecological imbalance in the world can turn moles into precursors of cancer. People with more than 50 moles on their body carry a higher risk of skin cancer. They need to be checked at regular intervals.
Dermatoscopy is microscopy of the skin surface. In suspicious lesions such as moles and other pigmented lesions, dermoscopy helps the doctor make a decision and guides the decision on surgery. For example, dermoscopy can tell whether a growing mole needs to be removed. In this way it can spare the patient such surgical procedures. A mole that looks very worrying to the naked eye may turn out to be completely innocent when viewed with a dermatoscope. Conversely, a mole that seems unproblematic may look very different under the dermatoscope, and a biopsy may be needed.

Dermatoscopic examination can diagnose moles, skin cancer and non-pigmented lesions other than moles, as well as conditions such as foreign bodies in the skin, parasites, blood vessels and various skin tumours.

Dermatoscopic Classification of Pigmented Skin Lesions

Step 1: Distinguishing pigmented from non-pigmented lesions (moles, seborrhoeic keratoses, basal cell carcinomas and vascular lesions can be counted as pigmented lesions.)

Step 2: Distinguishing a benign pigmented lesion from the malignant skin cancer called "melanoma". (Soyer and Pehamberger’s PATTERN ANALYSIS, Stolz’s ABCD RULE, Menzies’ SCORING METHOD, Argenziano’s SEVEN-POINT CHECKLIST and Soyer’s THREE-POINT CHECKLIST)

Malignant Melanoma
The routine mole examination, recommended once a year, is carried out with a dermatoscope. A mole map of the patient is created, and both the development of existing moles and the appearance of new ones are monitored.

Signs such as asymmetry of the spots on our skin, irregular borders, colour changes, changes in diameter, itching and bleeding may indicate an unwanted mole or skin cancer. If any of these findings is present, you should always consult a dermatologist who performs dermatoscopic mole examination.