Surgical margin mapping for lentigo maligna and lentigo maligna melanoma: traditional technique (visual inspection with dermoscopy) versus combined paper tape and reflectance confocal microscopy technique.

Background: The detection of subclinical margin in lentigo maligna/lentigo maligna melanoma (LM/LMM) can be challenging for the dermatologist. Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) enables to observe in vivo atypical melanocytes beyond the clinical margins. The aim of this study is to establish which of these methods (clinical examination and dermoscopy versus "Paper tape - RCM") is more precise to define the lesion margin and to reduce the number of re-intervention and overtreatments in cosmetically sensitive areas.