Imaging of human skin lesions with the multispectral dermoscope

The Dermoscope is a widespread and essential tool for dermatology. It reveals morphologic characteristics and aid the identification and diagnosis of a skin lesion. The diagnosis though is not always unambiguous and still the use of Dermoscopy doesn't obviate the need for histopathological verification. We report on the development of the Multispectral Dermoscope which employs high luminance LEDs with emission at three distinct spectral regions (470 nm, 530 nm, 625 nm). The illumination is polarized and an analyzer is used for the detection. Subsequent image analysis for enhancing the contrast for single scattered photons, hemoglobin absorption and melanin absorption is performed. Features like the surface texture of the skin, scattering structures in the epidermis, blood vessel morphology even in pigmented lesions and melanin localization have been observed in various skin pathologies. The device has been tested on volunteers and the features revealed have proven to be helpful in the diagnosis of skin lesions.