Skin Care Network Ltd.

This Interventional Randomised Controlled study is intended to establish that presurgical margin mapping of BCCs with OCT results in a reduction of the number of MMS surgery stages without adversely impacting clinical outcome, resulting in shorter patient stays and more efficient use of surgical and operating room resources.

It is proposed to undertake a study to determine the diagnostic utility of using RCM for the diagnosis of Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) in a tertiary referral centre as outlined by the recent NICE report (Nov 2015). This will allow an assessment of the potential to avoid diagnostic biopsy within the treatment pathway.

A reflectance confocal microscope is a machine which is able to examine the upper layers of the skin painlessly and without the need for taking a biopsy. We would like to examine the images taken by the confocal microscope to see if it can help more accurately identify lesions which are worrying rather than a benign mole. We are performing this study in patients in whom we have recommended excising a mole to exclude a cancer. If the results of the study show that the confocal microscope can help more accurately diagnose Melanomas then this would reduce the number of biopsies that are taken that turn out not to be cancerous (ie unnecessary biopsies).