Thursday, March 28, 2024

Skin Biopsy

Background

Skin biopsy is performed in order to obtain tissue for further examination in the laboratory, typically through microscopy or tissue culture. Because of the relatively low risk of skin biopsy as compared with biopsy of other organs, and the ability to obtain a sample under simple local anesthesia, a skin biopsy can be safely and routinely performed in an outpatient or ambulatory setting, as well as an inpatient setting. The usual intent of skin biopsy is to further characterize the nature of a skin growth or eruption and assist in diagnosis by allowing histopathologic evaluation of a tissue sample.

After local anesthetic is administered, the tissue is removed and placed in a specimen container with an appropriate fixative, usually 10% formalin for permanent section diagnosis or Michel’s solution for immunofluorescence. The specimen is then sent to a pathology laboratory, where, after tissue fixation, slide preparation, and staining, a pathologist, dermatologist, or dermatopathologist can examine the specimen under a microscope. Alternatively, the tissue is placed in normal saline rather than a fixative for viral or bacterial laboratory cultures.

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