Analysis of the benign to malignant ratio of lesions biopsied by a general dermatologist before and after the adoption of dermoscopy.

A lthough the benefits of using dermoscopy as a diagnostic aid are well described, dermoscopy currently remains underutilized in the United States. According to a recent survey of US academic dermatologists, reasons cited for lack of utilization included lack of training, logistical constraints, and the belief that the procedure was not helpful. Also, some clinicians may be apprehensive about introducing dermoscopy into their practices because many of the studies that highlight the benefits of dermoscopy have been conducted by pigmented lesion specialists (PLSs). The purpose of our pilot study was to assess changes in the management of pigmented lesions by a general dermatologist after the introduction of dermoscopy. As our end point, we calculated the benign to malignant ratio (BMR) for biopsied pigmented lesions having a clinical differentialdiagnosisofdysplasticnevusand/ormelanoma.Togauge theperformanceof thegeneraldermatologist,wecompared his results to thoseofanexperienceddermoscopyuserwho primarily sees patients with pigmented skin lesions.