Standard dermoscopy and videodermoscopy as tools for medical student dermatologic education

The ability to identify common benign and malignant skin lesions is augmented by the use of dermoscopy and is relevant to medical students pursuing careers in medicine, surgery, and subspecialties [1]. Medical students who received dermoscopy instruction as an adjunct to their skin examination education were more likely to examine a patient’s skin during physical examination when evaluated one year after skin examination education [2]. Standard dermatoscopes, utilized in the aforementioned studies, permit a single user to view skin lesions in greater detail by incorporating 10-fold magnification. As with standard dermoscopy, videodermoscopy allows examination of microstructures within the epidermis and dermis. Videodermoscopy further enhances viewing by increasing the magnification potential to 50-fold or greater and by enabling multiple users to visualize skin lesions concurrently (Figure 1). In this study, we aim to assess whether the use of videodermoscopy improves the ability of medical students to identify benign and malignant skin lesions. Methods