Dermoscopy, also called dermatoscopy, epiluminescence microscopy or skin surface microscopy, was developed in the 1990s in order to augment the early diagnosis of melanoma. First technologies allowed the observer to examine pigmented skin lesions covered by a drop of oil and a glass slide through a stereo microscope. Then dermoscopy developed into a hand-held lighted magnifier to analyze skin lesions by observing newly defined and descriptively named subsurface structures: eg, dots, streaks, veils, and networks. The initial instruments used an oil or alcohol interface to decrease light reflection, refraction, and diffraction. This made the epidermis essentially translucent and allowed in vivo visualization of subsurface anatomic structures of the.
