Dermoscopy of pigmented skin lesions.

This paper describes the basic concepts of dermoscopy, the various dermoscopic equipments and the standard criteria for diagnosing pigmented skin lesions. In assessing dermoscopic images, both global and local features can be recognized. These features will be systematically described and illustrated in Part I of this article. First, we will focus on 8 morphologically rather distinctive global features that allow a quick, preliminary categorization of a given pigmented skin lesion. Second, we will describe various local features representing the letters of the dermoscopic alphabet. The local features permit a more detailed assessment of pigmented skin lesions.