Dermatoscopic screening in family practice.

Background: Screening for dermatologic lesions is important in primary care medicine and may be enhanced by magnified illuminated video images. Viewing skin lesions with a dermatoscopic instrument is very helpful in judging and evaluating their characteristics. Both patients and physicians benefit from the improved diagnostic yield, possible medical-legal protection, enhanced development of the patient-physician relationship, medical practice economic boost, and more efficient dermatologic screening. The higher magnification and illuminated view theoretically enables the physician to make better decisions and helps convince the patient to comply with recommended treatment.

Methods: 57 patients in a single private family practice were interviewed before receiving a visual dermatology screening examination. The physician then recorded his findings and suggested plan. Next, the physician performed a magnified video dermatologic examination and once again recorded his findings, plan, and impression of the patient's reaction to the recommendations and treatment.

Results: 57 patients with 79 examination sites demonstrated an increased confidence by both the physician and patient with the video examination over the traditional dermatologic examination. In addition, several changes in proposed treatment were noted following the video examination.

Conclusions: Both the patients and physician believed the magnified video dermatologic examination improved diagnostic accuracy and increased patient motivation to act on physician recommendations.