Your physician may perform a skin biopsy to confirm the impression or aid in the interpretation of tumors or inflammatory disorders of the skin. The biopsy may be in the form of a punch biopsy, shave biopsy or excisional biopsy.
If the physician is considering a neoplasm, this may take the form of an actinic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma.
Benign neoplasms include nevi, seborrheic keratosis, dermatofibroma and inclusion cyst.
There are numerous inflammatory skin disorders which require considerable expertise in interpretation and may result in a differential diagnosis which when combined with your doctor’s findings will yield a more specific diagnosis.
Skin biopsies frequently require multiple step sections. They also may require special stains including immunohistochemical stains, particularly in the interpretation of skin neoplasms.
Dermatopathology training is frequently required in interpretation of unusual melanocytic neoplasms (dysplastic nevi and melanomas), adnexal skin tumors and inflammatory disorders of the skin.
Resources (Links will open in a new window):
www.aad.org
www.cancer.org
www.webmd.com
Pee Dee Pathology owns and operates two anatomic pathology laboratories in Florence, SC & Myrtle Beach, SC where evaluations of surgical and cytological specimens are performed.
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