Minor Surgery Series

“The benefit of dermoscopy in diagnosing skin tumours is well established and is widely practised both in primary and secondary care. This is a comprehensive and extremely well-illustrated e-book which would be valuable for all clinicians, irrespective of their experience. The first chapter provides a detailed background of the physics behind dermoscopy. It gives a clear explanation of the difference between liquid immersion and cross-polarisation dermoscopy, and even includes a video clip demonstrating how a glass slide can be used as a dermatoscope.

Before looking at the abnormal features of tumours on dermoscopy, there is a detailed description of features seen in both benign moles and malignant melanoma. This is followed by equally well-illustrated chapters on BCCs and SCCs, along with some benign lesions.

I did note the absence of any reference to the use of a dermatoscope for non-lesional skin disorders such as scabies. Although this is a book on skin lesions, the addition of a chapter on dermoscopy for inflammatory skin disease would have made this a more complete text.

The advantage of this being an e-book is that it can be downloaded to several devices. It is useful to have this book available on your smartphone, particularly in clinics, for teaching trainees and occasionally for explaining to patients who are intrigued by the features visible on dermoscopy. To make the most of this book, I would suggest using a larger device such as an iPad Pro to visualise the high-quality images. There are short video clips embedded in the book and there is the facility to add personal notes for future reference.

“Dr Nigel Stollery reviews a superbly illustrated e-book that covers all types of skin tumours and moles.

This book, available for download with iBooks, is from the Minor Surgery Series by surgeon Dr Vija Sodera and covers all types of skin tumours and moles.

The book is lavishly illustrated, demonstrating the subtle variations that are often overlooked in other books. The images are of superb quality, especially when viewed with a retina screen on the iPad, and can easily be enlarged to reveal more detail.

The first section offers a basic introduction after which chapter two jumps straight into malignant skin lesions. This chapter is further sub-divided into BCCS, SCCs, Bowen’s disease, keratoacanthoma and – the greatest challenge to physicians – malignant melanomas. The chapters describe how to recognise various lesions and include pictures of differential diagnoses with lesions in similar locations and of similar size. In comparison with the usual lists, this format makes it very easy to visualise and learn. each section also contains useful key points boxes.

In chapter three, beningn lesions are discussed. I found the histological images presented for each type of lesion to be an interesting addition. Chapter four covers sub-cutaneous lesions such as cysts and lipomas; again this chapter is full of excellent images. The fifth chapter considers treatment complications, which anyone undertaking minor surgery should find interesting.  This includes cryotherapy as well as surgery.

Available in electronic format, this book has the advantage of being good value for money, readily accessible and easily searchable. I found the ability to add personal notes and bookmarks particularly helpful”.