title: Case Report: melanoma and melanocytic nevus differentiation with reflectance confocal microscopy.
abstract: Historically, melanoma has been typically diagnosed by naked-eye examination and confirmed with invasive biopsy. However, recently the use of reflectance confocal microscopy enables non-invasive bedside diagnosis of clinically equivocal lesions. We present a case in which reflectance confocal microscopy was used to evaluate two skin lesions in the same patient confirming the diagnosis of a melanoma and potentially avoiding invasive biopsy in the second benign melanocytic lesion.  Clinicians should be aware of the availability of new non-invasive technologies that can aid in early diagnosis of malignant skin tumors and potentially reduce the number of benign lesion excisions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, 41124, Italy ; Department of Biostatistics and Telemedicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, 31-530, Poland.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Łudzik
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, 41124, Italy.
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Witkowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, 41124, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pellacani
keywords: Dermatology; Dysplasia; Melanoma; Nevi; Reflectance confocal microscopy