Classification of melasma by dermoscopy: comparative study with Wood’s lamp

Introduction: Melasma is the principal cause of facial hyperchromia and has a significant psychosocial impact. Wood´s lamp has been a useful device to estimate the depth of melanin determined by light-induced fluorescence. A dermatoscope enables a clear visualization of pigments distribution, and the color variation of melanin will depend on its location within the skin. Objective: Evaluate the classifi cation of melasma according to depth of melanin by dermatoscopy and to correlate the dermatoscopic findings with its classifi cation using Wood’s lamp. Material and methods: Analysis of concordance between dermatoscopy and Wood’s lamp in the classification of melasma. Forty patients were evaluated by expert examiners, using a Wood’s lamp (Burton® UVA 360nm LE T5 4W BLB) and dermoscopy (Bley Med-Skincam® 40x or 3Gen Dermlite II ProHR® 10x), in an independent manner. The epidermal type was considered as the presence of a regular pigment network, with a brownish homogeneous pigmentation; dermal type as an irregular and mixed network with bluish-gray pigmentation; and mixed type as areas presenting both features. Results: The degree of concordance between the methods was considered weak (k < 0.2) by statistical analysis. Conclusions: The authors consider the technique more suitable, since it has allowed the visualization of the pigmentary components in a more objective way.

Keywords: CLASSIFICATION, MELANOSIS, DERMOSCOPY