General reviews
THE VALUE AND UTILITY OF REFLECTANCE CONFOCAL MICROSCOPY IN DERMATOLOGY

In dermatology, the presumptive diagnosis is based on the clinical examination of lesions and possibly the dermatoscopy examination but the confirmation is only obtained through histopathological examination. The challenge consists of determining a diagnosis as coherent as possible in a manner as non-invasive as possible. For this reason, during the past years, focus has been oriented towards non-invasive techniques and among these, reflectance confocal microscopy has shown the most promising results.

Globally, the melanoma occurrence rate is increasing both as incidence and mortality. Despite ongoing studies, melanoma in advanced stages remains incurable, and the most appropriate solution is this case is the early detection with full surgical excision in due time. Nowadays, appropriately performed confocal microscopy is a valuable alternative for obtaining a rapid and accurate diagnosis.