A cross sectional study to assess the role of dermoscopy in differentiating palmar psoriasis and chronic hand eczema in patients attending a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Background: Due to overlapping clinical features, the differentiation between palmar psoriasis and hand eczema forms a difficult task. In such caseshistopathological analysis aids in many cases to differentiate the two conditions.But is not always feasible owing to the invasive nature of the diagnostic procedure. Dermoscopy acts as a diagnostic method that utilizes optic magnification to permit the visualization of morphological patterns and structures that are less visible to the naked eye,thus, forming a link between macroscopic clinical dermatologyand microscopic dermatopathology. Hence we undertook this study to assess the roleof dermoscopyand study their specific dermoscopic features in biopsy proven cases of palmoplantar psoriasis and hand eczema so as to assist in the clinical diagnosis and obviate the need of doing skin biopsy.