Dermoscopy of Seborrheic Keratosis

Seborrheic keratosis is a common skin hyperplasia. It is often mistaken for a disease such as skin cancer because of its appearance that looks like warts, precancerous skin growths, or skin cancer. Dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis is crucial to identify seborrhei keratosis from other types of skin diseases.

What is Seborrheic Keratosis?
Seborrheic keratosis (SK) is a kind of benign epidermal hyperplasia caused by keratinocyte hyperplasia. Seborrheic keratosis is a type of non-cancerous benign of skin disease. Seborrheic keratosis is harmless.
Seborrheic keratosis is known as senile warts, senile spots, also known as basal cell papilloma. Because it mainly occurs in adults over the age of 40, it often appears as people grow older.

What are the Clinical Feature of Seborrheic Keratosis?
Seborrheic keratosis is painless and it usually appears brown, black, or light tan. Its growth appears waxy or scaly and is slightly raised. They can gradually appear on various parts of the body, mostly on the face, neck, chest, or back.

Why is It Necessary to Use a Dermoscopy of Seborrheic Keratosis?
Dermatoscope is a non-invasive technique that allows dermatologists to closely examine seborrheic keratosis more accurately and precisely. Especially dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis greatly enhance the vision of some locations that hard-to-reach by naked eyes, such as details in lesions. Dermatoscope magnifys and brightens shapes and structures of lesions. Dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis increases the confidence of doctors and patients about the skin disease and avoids unnecessary anxiety and treatment. So it is really necessary to use a dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis.

Typical Features of Dermoscopy of Seborrheic Keratosis
dermoscopy plays a crucial role in identifying seborrheic keratosis. There are some typical features of dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis as below:
Special pattern: Typical “gyrigrain” or “fat-like” pattern.
Hair follicle openings: Visible hair follicle openings.
Structure: Edge ring structure, Light brown fingerprint-like parallel structures.
Prominent blood vessels: In some forms of seborrheic keratosis, a halo of lobules surrounds tiny, hairpin-like capillaries.
Miliary cysts: These cysts may appear as small white stars or larger, yellowish turbidity.
Other features like: cracks/ridges, blue-gray balls, irregular crypts, weak or pseudo-network.
Dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis is very helpful and reliable for distinguish seborrheic keratosis from other skin diseases.

How to differentiate between seborrheic keratosis and melanoma?
Seborrheic kearatosis will not transfer into melanoma. But both of seborrheic keratosis and melanoma can be brown or black color, so the two can be easily be mistake from each other.
There are some important differences between seborrheic keratosis and melanoma, from their numbers, appearances, locations causes, etc.

Comparison the apearances of seborrheic keratosis and melanoma
Numbers: Seborrheic keratoses: Seborrheic keratoses often appear in numbers of two or more
Melanoma: Melanoma is usually appear in single.
Shapes: Seborrheic keratoses: Seborrheic keratoses usually shows round or oval shaped.
Melanoma: Irregular shape, asymmetry in shape is the typical features of melanoma.
Colors: Seborrheic keratoses: Seborrheic keratoses colors in light tan, brown, or black.
Melanoma: Melanoma is commonly display multiple colors like pink, red, white, blue or mixed color within the same one.
Size: Seborrheic keratosis: Seborrheic keratosis varies in size from very small to big, and its size will not changed as time goes on.
Melanoma: Melanoma is in bigger size than 1/4 inch, and its size will grow over time.
Surface: Seborrheic keratosis: Seborrheic keratosis has waxy or scaly surface, slightly elevated above the skin surface.
Melanoma: Melanoma tends to be smooth with blurred, ragged border.
Pain: Seborrheic keratosis:Seborrheic keratosis is painless
Melanoma: Some of melanoma feel hurt, while some of melanoma feel no any pain or discomfort.
Evolving: Seborrheic keratosis:Seborrheic keratosis maintains the same always.
Melanoma: Melanoma may looks different from its beginning, and it may change in its shape, size or color.

Comparison the locations of seborrheic keratosis and melanoma
Seborrheic keratosis: Seborrheic keratosis mostly displays on the face, neck, chest, or back.
Melanoma: Melanoma Melanoma can appear in anywhere on the skin,mostly on chest, black, legs, arms, face, necks, and even eyes.

Comparison the causes of seborrheic keratosis and melanoma
Causes: The primary risk factor for seborrheic keratoses is age. Other risk factors include: sunburn, skin irritation and friction, pregnancy, hormone therapy, some medications, genetic mutation, a family history of seborrheic keratosis

How is seborrheic keratosis diagnosed?
To diagnose seborrheic keratosis, skin doctors will get information from your family history of skin disease and take observation of it through a vision aiding tool called dermatoscope. Dermatoscope is a small handheld lighted medical microscope that allows a more precise and deeper view of skin diseases by high magnification and a powerful glare-free lighting system. If it is necessary, a biopsy will be needed for seborrheic keratosis.
People usually also take dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis for self-examination on skin. Any unusual findings or changes occur, have dermatologist checked for a further evaluation. Dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis plays a significant role in physical exam.

Application of dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis
A dermoscope is a main device used to examine skin diseases, like seborrheic keratosis. In the diagnosis and treatment of seborrheic keratosis, dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis is widely used in the following aspects:
Monitoring: For patients who have already been diagnosed with seborrheic keratosis, dermoscopy can be used to monitor the whole process as time goes on. If any changes happen, a further step should be taken.
Feedback: Skin doctor can compare images from dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis over different times to assess the effectiveness of the treatment of seborrheic keratosis and then decide if the treatment needs to be adjusted or not.
Treatment aid: When treating seborrheic keratosis, images can be clearly and precisely showed by dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis. It greatly enhanced the patience of skin doctors and patients.

Seborrheic keratosis is a harmless skin disease which will not cause skin cancer. But skin doctors should have it accurately diagnosed by dermoscope. Dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis is very important to differentiate seborrheic keratosis from other skin diseases. Hence, skin doctors can remove seborrheic keratoss surely and safely for some aesthetic reasons.
It is vital to develop the habit of use of dermoscopy of seborrheic keratosis. In addition, paying more attention to a regular skin examination is also necessary in our daily life. People should remain vigilant at all time to keep the health of the skin.