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Diagnostic tests are indicated when the cause of a skin lesion or disease is not obvious from history and physical examination alone (for patch testing, see Dermatitis: Diagnosis).
Biopsy:
A skin biopsy can be done by a primary care physician. One procedure is a punch biopsy, in which a tubular punch (diameter usually 4 mm) is inserted into deep dermal or subcutaneous tissue to obtain a specimen, which is snipped off at its base. More superficial lesions may be biopsied by shaving with a scalpel or razor blade. Bleeding is controlled by aluminum chloride solution or electrodesiccation; large incisions are closed by sutures. Larger or deeper biopsies can be done by excising a wedge of skin with a scalpel. All pigmented lesions should be excised deeply for histologic evaluation of depth; superficial biopsies are often inadequate. Diagnosis and cure are achieved simultaneously for most small tumors by complete excision that includes a small border of normal skin.
Scrapings:
Skin scrapings help diagnose fungal infections and scabies. For fungal infection, scales are taken from the border of the lesion and placed onto a microscope slide. Then a drop of 10 to 20% potassium hydroxide (KOH) is added. Hyphae, budding yeast, or both confirm the diagnosis of tinea or candidiasis. For scabies, scrapings are taken from suspected burrows and placed directly under a coverslip with mineral oil; findings of mites, feces, or eggs confirm the diagnosis.
Wood's
light:
Wood's light (black light) can help distinguish hypopigmentation from depigmentation (depigmentation of vitiligo fluoresces ivory-white and hypopigmented lesions do not). Erythrasma fluoresces bright orange-red. Tinea capitis caused by Microsporum canis and Microsporum
audouinii fluoresces a light, bright green. (Note: Most tinea capitis in the US is caused by Trichophyton species, which do not fluoresce.) The earliest clue to cutaneous Pseudomonas infection (eg, in burns) may be green fluorescence.
Tzanck
testing:
Tzanck testing can be used to diagnose viral disease, such as herpes simplex and herpes zoster, and is done when active intact vesicles are present. Tzanck testing cannot distinguish between herpes simplex and herpes zoster infections. An intact blister is the preferred lesion for examination. The blister roof is removed with a sharp blade, and the base of the unroofed vesicle is scraped with a #15 scalpel blade. The scrapings are transferred to a slide and stained with Wright's stain or Giemsa stain. Multinucleated giant cells are a sign of herpes infection.
Diascopy:
Diascopy is used to determine whether a lesion is vascular (inflammatory) or nonvascular (nevus) or hemorrhagic (petechia or purpura). A microscope slide is pressed against a lesion to see whether it blanches. Hemorrhagic lesions and nonvascular lesions do not blanch; inflammatory lesions do. Diascopy is sometimes used to identify sarcoid skin lesions, which, when tested, turn an apple jelly color.
Last full review/revision May 2009 by Robert J. MacNeal, MD
Content last modified May 2009
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