[Dermoscopy for beginners (ii): Dermoscopic structures and diagnostic methods]

Dermoscopy (DS) is an in vivo non-invasive diagnostic technique developed to study skin lesions. It improves the diagnostic accuracy of hyperpigmented lesions and early diagnosis of potentially malignant lesions, especially melanoma. It uses a device called a dermoscope to display deeper skin structures not visible to the naked eye, called dermoscopic structures. Only some of them have histological significance, basing them on DS. Many, more or less complex, dermoscopic methods have been developed to aid in the differential diagnosis of skin cancer. The most widespread is 2-step algorithm dermoscopy. But there are some more simple methods, designed to be operated by non-medical experts in DS. Two of them are useful in primary care: the 3-point checklist of DS, and the BLINCK algorithm. This paper focuses on describing the dermoscopic parameters needed to implement these algorithms, as well as their interpretation.