Only early diagnosis and treatment can mean saving a patient’s life. Among the skin tumours with the highest incidence is basal cell carcinoma, which is typical in that it does not metastasize. Squamous cell carcinoma is less common but tends to metastasize. Malignant melanoma is the most malignant skin tumour and one of the most malignant tumours ever. It can metastasize to all organs of the body, including the skin and nodes. Non-melanoma tumours – skin carcinomas – have a good prognosis with a high percentage of complete cure. In malignant melanoma, only early detection and surgical treatment can mean a complete cure for the patient.

One of the basic preventive measures is whole-body dermatoscopy – examination by epiluminescence microscopy.

The skin surface of the mole is examined in detail with a dermatoscope, or, in simple terms, with a magnifying loupe magnified several times (10 – 20x) with a light. The aim of this non-invasive examination is to distinguish pigmented skin manifestations from those without pigment, malignant from benign, to help the doctor decide which mole needs to be removed and which just needs to be monitored with the passage of time. Dermatoscopy in particular increases the diagnostic score for malignant melanoma and thus increases the chance of long-term survival in cancer patients.