Skin Examination
Skin Examination - Related Videos
20:06
The Comprehensive Infant Examination
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2023
Source: Heather Collette and Jaideep Talwalkar; Yale School of Medicine The newborn exam is important in establishing a baby's baseline health status as they enter the world. Newborn providers have the unique opportunity to evaluate a patient for the very first time. They are also tasked with identifying congenital anomalies that require early intervention to promote a long and healthy life for the child. Many newborn anomalies, such as heart defects, are noted on prenatal ultrasound. However,...
07:44
Ophthalmoscopic Examination
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2023
Source: Richard Glickman-Simon, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, MA The simplest ophthalmoscopes consist of an aperture to look through, a diopter indicator, and a disc for selecting lenses. The ophthalmoscope is primarily used to examine the fundus, or the inner wall of the posterior eye, which consists of the choroid, retina, fovea, macula, optic disc, and retinal vessels (Figure 1). The spherical eyeball...
35:03
Mental Status Examination
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2023
Source: Carmen Black, Matthew Goldenberg, and Jaideep Talwalkar; Yale School of Medicine The mental status exam is a clinical evaluation of emotional, perceptual, and cognitive functioning that spans both the fields of psychiatry and neurology. Developing skill in the psychiatric portions of the examination are important to describe salient aspects of the patient's mental state that may be observed during routine history and/or physical exam. Proficiency in the cognitive portions of this...
05:44
Skin Biopsy for Diagnosing Discoid Lupus Erythematosus
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Cited by 2 •
2025
Skin lesions are common and important features in many rheumatic diseases, and biopsy with pathological analysis plays a critical role in diagnosis. This article provides a detailed overview of the standardized skin biopsy procedure and, using discoid lupus erythematosus as an example, highlights the essential role of dermatopathology in diagnosing rheumatic diseases.
04:07
Generation of Organotypic Full Skin Reconstructs: A Procedure to Establish 3D Skin Model Using Human Skin Samples
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2023
This video describes the detailed protocol for generating in vitro 3D organotypic skin reconstructs to study melanoma progression. This skin model mimics both the architecture and multicellular complexity of organs in vivo.
FAQs
The diagnostic value of a skin finding depends on more than its presence. Clinicians assess morphology, color, surface, border, size, texture, distribution, and change over time to recognize meaningful patterns. Comparing these features across affected and unaffected areas can help distinguish inflammatory, infectious, allergic, neoplastic, and systemic conditions, while changes during follow-up may provide additional diagnostic clues.
Inspection reveals visible characteristics such as color, surface, borders, and distribution, whereas palpation adds information about texture and other features that may not be apparent visually. Using both approaches creates a more complete assessment of lesions and surrounding tissue. This combined evaluation can improve clinical characterization and help determine whether focused testing or continued observation is appropriate.
Dermoscopy and other focused tests may provide additional detail when the initial clinical assessment does not fully characterize a finding or when a particular concern warrants closer evaluation. They supplement, rather than replace, the history, inspection, and palpation that guide interpretation. Their selective use can support more informed diagnostic decisions while avoiding unnecessary testing when clinical findings are sufficiently clear.
Patient history supplies the time course and clinical context needed to interpret examination findings. Clinicians consider how a change has developed over time and relate that information to observed morphology, distribution, and other characteristics. This combination helps distinguish a stable baseline finding from a changing abnormality and supports decisions about monitoring, additional assessment, or evaluation for serious disease.
A structured assessment begins with patient history, followed by inspection and palpation of the skin, hair, nails, and visible mucous membranes. Clinicians characterize any findings by morphology, color, surface, border, size, texture, distribution, and change over time. Dermoscopy or another focused test can then be added when indicated, and the findings should be documented for future comparison.
Documentation should capture the examination features that make a finding recognizable and comparable later, including its morphology, color, surface, border, size, texture, distribution, and change over time. Recording these observations establishes a useful baseline for monitoring treatment response or progression. Consistent documentation also improves communication and continuity when care occurs across different clinical settings.