When imaging saves lives

I like to tell patients that in skin cancer prevention we have an advantage and a disadvantage:

• The disadvantage is that skin cancer initially does not hurt. Pain is a symptom that warns us that something is wrong and that in other areas of the body, not in the skin, it is an indicator to look for, to scan, to test…..
• The advantage, our great advantage, is that the skin can be seen and we can notice any appearance of a new lesion or a change in shape, size or color of a previous one. I emphasize that to see you have to look, we as medical specialists, especially if the person who consults us has a skin at risk and each one, at home, self-examining on a regular monthly basis.

Skin cancer is a health problem that offers positive and negative figures. The negative ones are that it is the most prevalent cancer in humans and its frequency is increasing every year. The positive ones, which are very positive, are that in general, skin cancer can be cured if it is diagnosed and treated early. Dermatologists are very aware of this and the population is becoming more and more aware of it.

Advances in skin cancer diagnosis

Advances in the early diagnosis of skin cancer have been significant in recent decades. The obvious visibility of the skin has made it possible to develop two important tools for the early diagnosis and effective treatment of skin cancer:

1. Involving the population in its detection through awareness campaigns, information, self-examination and early consultation.
2. The development of imaging techniques in dermatology. Imaging, in a medical specialty as visual as dermatology, is fundamental in the early diagnosis of skin cancer, especially because it saves lives.

Two major advances related to imaging have provided dermatologists with precise and precious tools in the fight against this “epidemic”.

The first is epiluminescence, a technique that dermatologists use regularly to deepen the visibility and analysis of any skin lesion with a special system of polarized lights that prevent light reflection on the skin and magnifying lenses. It is impressive how the characteristics of a lesion change when analyzed under the “eye of epiluminescence”. An infinite number of signs emerge in our view that increase the specificity of dermatological diagnosis.

The second revolution in the early diagnosis of skin cancer, especially melanoma, is the digitalization of images, the evolutionary comparison of these images using specific software and the creation of body mappings that create a perfect record of our body and facial spots and moles. Following the logical dogma that any skin lesion that changes is suspicious and that any lesion that appears new in an adult should be evaluated, we have the ability to become aware at very early stages of changes and appearance of new lesions.

In order to have all these possibilities of analysis, very advanced systems have been developed for digitalization of epiluminescence images and for the development of maps of our body of pigmented lesions, spots and moles, and their comparison, among which FotoFinder Bodyscan stands out.

Ivalia Clínica Dermatológica, with the commitment to provide the most accurate techniques in medical, surgical and aesthetic skin care, has the first FotoFinder Bodyscan of the Canary Islands.