Dermatoscopy and Skin Imaging: The section to share your morphological observations and scientific insights

Citation: Scope A. Dermatoscopy and Skin Imaging: The section to share your morphological observations and scientific insights. It is a great pleasure and honor to be the Editor of the Der-matoscopy and Skin Imaging Section in Dermatology Practical and Conceptual. We live in very exciting times in clinical dermatology. The use of primary morphology in diagnosis is natural for dermatologists and fundamental to our discipline ; we are trained to diagnose skin disease based on the recognition of pathological patterns in the skin. Thus, the use of non-invasive skin imaging enhances our morphological skills and adds depth to our view. With non-invasive imaging devices, such as dermatoscopy and confocal microscopy, we are able to see new structures and patterns under the skin's surface that represent reproducible tissue pathology; this is dermatopathology at the bedside! The insights gained from recognitions of these new patterns have not only improved our diagnostic accuracy in the recognition of skin cancer [1,2], but have also opened new roads into the research of disease pathology, pathophysiology and treatment. As just one example, we are able, for the first time, to document and monitor change in pigmented lesions and better understand their rates and pattern of growth. The SONIC study (study of nevi in children) has been documenting and following nevus evolution as children enter adolescence , using digital photography and dermatoscopy [3, 4]. We have shown that subsets of nevi that are recognized by their dermatoscopic pattern, namely, reticular and globular nevi, are distinct. Globular-patterned nevi occur more frequently in the upper part of the body, tend to be larger in diameter and are more likely to occur in individuals with fair pigmentation phenotype and increased nevus counts; in contrast, reticular nevi are more frequent in the lower trunk and extremities, tend to be smaller in size, and constitute the main nevus pattern in individuals with dark skin phenotype and lower nevus counts [3]. Moreover, nevi tend to retain their dermatoscopic pattern over time, so that cross-over between reticular and globular patterns is rare [4]. Pellacani et al have followed the evolution of reticular and globular nevi using reflectance confocal microscopy and have shown that growth of nevi tends to occur within the same anatomic compartment-reticular nevi mostly grow along the basal layer of the epidermis, while in globular nevi, nests mostly grow in the superficial dermis-accounting for the retention of dermatoscopic pattern during evolution of …