An objective skin examination is performed with the ordinary eye and use of cold light, as well as using the Wood lamp.
The general inspection evaluates the color and possible presence of elementary lesions. Targeted inspection refers to the color, luminosity and possibly presence of comedones, microcysts, stains, cuperosis (reddening with enlarged blood vessels found on the face, especially in people with light skin), rosacea, wrinkles, skin depression (scarring), scars from acne, desquamation (rash and peeling).
Wood’s lamp allows to see the presence of comedones (yellow or orange depending on the degree of fat oxidation), hyperpigmentation that cannot be seen with the naked eye, flakes (in dermatology Wood’s lamp is used to confirm the diagnosis of vitiligo, psoriasis and pitiriasis versicolor).
Examination by touch and palpation according to the correct methodology of traditional medicine allows for examination of smoothness, fatness, granulosis, roughness, thickening, elasticity and skin stretch.
For a differential diagnosis of pigment lesions, dermatoscopy with epiluminescence is used, a non-invasive technique that allows the pigment to be tested inside and outside the cell.