Improvement of the diagnostic accuracy in pigmented skin lesions by epiluminescent light microscopy.

Epiluminescent light microscopy (ELM) represents a technique which permits to examine details of the surface of the skin and also--in by using the oil immersion technique--of the dermal-epidermal junction zone. Criteria are described which allow the distinction of benign from malignant growth patterns of pigmented skin lesions; thus ELM adds considerably to the diagnostic armamentarium of pigmented skin lesions at the clinical level.