Melanoma diagnosis: predictive value of macroscopic changes observed by the patient.

About half of the melanomas are detected by patients but the mean thickness of such melanomas is higher than when diagnosed by physicians. Symptoms and signs described by patients are dynamic changes and pruritus, the appearance of a new lesion having been rarely investigated. These observations are documented for melanomas but not for benign naevi.

Availability of digital dermoscopy in daily practice dramatically reduces the number of excised melanocytic lesions: results from an observational study.

Background: Digital dermoscopy has been shown to permit an earlier detection of melanoma. However, few studies have investigated its added value in reducing unnecessary excisions in everyday clinical practice.

Objectives: To compare, in daily practice, the efficiency of three dermoscopy methods: dermoscopy alone with little training, dermoscopy alone with adequate training and dermoscopy with adequate training and access to digital dermoscopy, and to confirm the safety of this latter approach.