Dermoscopy of superficial spreading melanoma

Knowledge and insights gained over the past few decades pertaining to the clinical and dermoscopic primary morphology of melanoma has greatly increased the authors' appreciation of the varied faces of this malignancy. This knowledge has improved their ability to detect early melanoma and may in part explain the observed increase in the percentage of thin melanomas being diagnosed today as compared to the past. The authors have previously published in this journal an article on the dermoscopic patterns of melanoma. In this review they will focus on specific dermoscopic structures that are frequently observed in the most common subtype of melanoma, the superficial spreading melanoma.