DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i01.087

Pages: 444-449

Skin, the largest organ of our body, is extraordinarily vibrant with regard to the diversity and complexity of the protective functions it serves. Many skin diseases can be diagnosed by a simple clinical examination, but sometimes relatively simple diagnostic procedures are required for additional valuable information towards reaching final diagnosis. A few such procedures are Skin biopsy. Potassium hydroxide preparation for fungal infections, Tzanck smear (cytological technique), examination under Wood's light. Skin biopsy is an especially useful procedure. It can be obtained in various ways like Punch biopsy, scalpel biopsy, shave biopsy and curettage biopsy. The choice of technique is according to the nature of the lesion, but a punch biopsy is the standard procedure. The correlation between the gross and histological appearances is often essential in understanding the pathogenesis and formulating the diagnosis. In the present study, over a period of 5 years 795 skin biopsies were received for different neoplastic and non neoplastic skin lesions. Out of 795 skin biopsies, 270 were clinically diagnosed as non neoplastic skin lesions. Definitive histopathological diagnosis was possible in 209 cases. In rest of the 61 cases, no histopathological diagnosis could be made as in 22 cases biopsy was inadequate to comment upon while in 39 cases no specific pattern of disease was observed which were analyzed and confirmed histologically.