Introduction

The first few modules in this website are intended to help those General Practitioners with an interest in Skin Cancer medicine better understand the nuances of dermatopathology. The sections on the histopathology of inflammatory skin diseases can be viewed at Dermatopathology Made Simple - Inflammatory

By studying these videos you will be in a better position to fully understand a path report on biopsy specimens you submit. Also if you are interested in dermatoscopy and take dermatoscopic images of cases , it will help you correlate what the pathologist reports with the features you have seen through the dernmatoscope. It is directed particularly at General Practitioners practicing in the field of Skin Cancer Surgery. Each module will have a video associated with it.


The video below gives you an overview of the site and how we intend to present the material to you. Try increasing the 360 number below to 720 and click on the box with the arrows pointing out to view this video full screen in high definition. Press ESC on your computer to go back to normal. Try pressing pause to let it load a bit if you have a slow connection to have uninterrupted viewing in full screen HD mode!




 Medical Dermatopathology on the contrary is much easier! If a rash is red and scaly the pathology will be in the epidermis and the condition will be under the mnemonic PMs PET(AL)  See Dermatology Made Simple for the relevant diseases under this mnemonic.
If the condition is red but non scaly then the pathology is in the dermis or fat tissue and the mnemonic CUL DVA EVIE applies . Again see Dermatology Made Simple.
Conversely if you are looking at a path slide then look to see where the pathology is. If it is in the epidermis then the PMs PET (AL( applies for the clinical diagnosis and if it is in the dermis or fat layer then CUL DVA EVIE will give you the clinical diagnosis but the range of possibilities is greater! This range can be cut down by looking for inflammatory reaction Patterns and it is these that we will learn through using this website! Learn the mnemonics and learn to look at a slide to decide if the pathology is epidermal or dermal and fat and dermatopathology becomes not only manageable but also relatively easy. 

For the Dermatopathologist to really help you , you need to submit an adequate specimen. Your options are punch, shave, incisional or excisional biopsies. You also need to submit a reasonable history of the case and some Differential Diagnoses. The video below looks at the different types of skin biopsies.