Inverse Dermoscopic Approach
In the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, a study showed significant increase in diagnosis of lentigo maligna (Hutchinson’s Melanotic Freckle) when traditional training for dermoscopic pattern analysis was compared with inverse approach training.
The dermoscopic features of actinic keratoses (sunspots), actinic lentigos or flat seborrhoeic keratoses (liver spots) are easy to identify. An inverse approach involves diagnosis by identifying the absence of these features.
Use of the inverse approach to dermoscopy outperformed traditional dermoscopic pattern analysis with diagnostic accuracy increasing by more than 60%!