Current Situation of Dermoscopy Use in Aesthetic Medicine
December 2019
in “
Medicina estética
”
TLDR Dermoscopy is underused in aesthetic medicine, but it increases diagnosis confidence; more training is needed.
The 2019 study "Situación actual de la utilización de la dermatoscopia en medicina estética" surveyed 211 professionals from the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine to understand the use of dermoscopy in aesthetic medicine. It found that 53.80% of these professionals used dermoscopy, which increased their confidence in diagnosing pigmented or suspicious lesions. In the previous 2 years, 80.53% detected basal cell carcinomas and 44.25% detected melanomas, with more training leading to more melanoma detection. However, only 62.20% of doctors received appropriate training, with 35.62% receiving less than 4 hours. The majority (95%) wanted more training hours. The study concluded that while dermoscopy increases safety in diagnosing pigmented lesions, its use was not sufficiently widespread among aesthetic doctors, and more training programs were needed.