Dermoscopy in black people.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the use of dermoscopy in nonwhite-skinned populations and whether it can influence diagnostic performance. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate for the first time the utility and efficacy of dermoscopy in a black population for the diagnosis of pigmented cutaneous lesions. METHODS: In total, 100 consecutive clinically doubtful or equivocal pigmented skin lesions in black patients were submitted to dermoscopic examination. The lesions were observed using dermoscopy by two groups of dermatologists, one in Brazil (in vivo) and the other in Italy (on slide images). Besides diagnosis, each group recorded on the same type of form the dermoscopic features present. RESULTS: Of 100 clinically suspicious cases, 79 were Clark naevi, 15 seborrhoeic keratoses, four blue naevi, one dermatofibroma and one melanoma. The two groups of observers succeeded in identifying and classifying all the lesions to such a margin of diagnostic accuracy that only a few cases (three Clark naevi) were subjected to surgical excision to confirm diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Darker pigmentation of the skin does not impede the identification of single dermoscopic features. As in lighter-skinned populations, dermoscopy in black people can also lead to early and accurate diagnosis of melanoma, thereby significantly reducing the number of unnecessary excisions.

Multiple pigmented trichoblastomas and syringocystadenoma papilliferum in naevus sebaceous mimicking a malignant melanoma: a clinical dermoscopic-pathological case study.

We report a case of three distinct adnexal neoplasms associated with a naevus sebaceous of the scalp: a nodular pigmented trichoblastoma, a smaller flat pigmented trichoblastoma and a syringocystadenoma papilliferum, and discuss the clinical and histological features of these neoplasms. The clinical manifestation was suggestive of malignant melanoma, a feature that has never been reported before. For the first time in the literature we describe the case also by means of a noninvasive analysis, i.e. epiluminescence microscopy. In our experience, epiluminescence microscopy does not appear to be more diagnostically accurate than simple clinical examination when diagnosing lesions of the scalp, contrary to other regions.