Dermoscopy for venereologists: an update on patterns of tumors, inflammatory and infectious diseases of the genitalia, and tips for differential diagnosis

Introduction: Dermoscopy is an integrative part of clinical dermatologic examination. For clinicians mainly dealing with genital dermatoses and other venereal diseases, the differential diagnosis includes a broad spectrum of neoplastic, inflammatory, and infectious entities. Dermoscopy might have a valuable role to enhance the clinical differential diagnosis and help avoid some biopsies done for diagnostic purposes. Although the dermoscopic patterns of most tumors and inflammatory diseases of the trunk/face have been described, their manifestations on genital areas are less elucidated. We aimed to provide a succinct summary of existing data on dermoscopy of dermatologic diseases on genital areas. Methods: A literature search was performed on PubMed using the terms dermoscopy OR dermatoscopy OR videodermoscopy OR video dermoscopy AND genital. All studies reporting on dermoscopic findings of at least one case of a dermatologic disease on genital areas were included in the review. Unless otherwise indicated, ×10 was the magnification used in the reported studies. The main outcome was to describe the dermoscopic feature of each disease. Results: A total of 31 articles were identified and analyzed. They included single case reports and case series. The described entities were categorized into anatomical variants, vascular and lymphatic lesions, tumors, inflammatory disorders, and infectious conditions. Conclusion: In diseases of the genital area, dermoscopic findings can be highly diagnostic and might establish a confident diagnosis. Limitation is that most of the criteria are based on case series, and few of them have been validated.