The use of digital dermoscopy for the follow-up of congenital nevi: A pilot study

One of the main problems in the management of congenital nevi is the potent ial risk for malignant transformation and the resulting need for follow-up examination. Dermoscopy is a noninvasive technique that has been shown to b e useful for the follow-up of benign melanocytic skin lesions as well as th e early diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Therefore we thought to use the di gital dermoscopy (DD) technique for the follow-up of congenital nevi. For d ocumentation purposes we registered an overview, and the following standard ized dermoscopic images of every lesion: representative architectural patte rn, border of the lesion, and regions of "special interest." In all instanc es the examination with digital dermoscopy was well tolerated by the patien ts and the integration of the parents to the "live" examination on the comp uter screen was appreciated. The follow-up was easy to perform with these s tandardized documents. We showed the feasibility of follow-up of congenital nevi using digital dermoscopy. Furthermore, we identified three different patterns as well as some typical structures seen in congenital nevi by DD.