Cutaneous melanoma

To the Editor: The saucerization skin biopsy condemned by Koh (July 18 issue)¹ is the biopsy preferred by many dermatologists for selected pigmented lesions. These are small lesions (1 cm or less) for which the clinical diagnosis is benign (such as lentigo senilis, seborrheic keratosis, or dysplastic nevus) but there is some suspicion of malignant melanoma. The saucerization, unlike the punch or incisional biopsy, provides a broad specimen of epidermis and upper dermis, including the lateral margins of the lesion. This allows proper histologic interpretation of the architecture of most keratinocytic and melanocytic lesions. The vast majority of cutaneous melanomas. . .