RESUMEN
Objective To evaluate the diagnostic ability of dermoscopy in facial actinic keratosis.Methods Forty patients with facial lesions suspected for actinic keratosis were enrolled from April 2009 to November 2009. There were 27 males and 13 females among these patients aged from 46 to 88 years. The disease course varied from 2 to 20 years. Lesional specimens were obtained from the subjects and underwent dermatoscopic and histopathologic examinations. The sensitivity, specificity and consistency with pathology were calculated for dermoscopy in the diagnosis of nonpigmented facial actinic keratosis. Results The sensitivity, specificity, Youden index and Kappa index of dermoscopy were 90.91%, 88.89%, 79.80% and 0.798(χ2 = 0.25, P >0.05) respectively in the diagnosis of facial nonpigmented actinic keratosis made by one dermatologist,86.36%, 94.44%, 80.80% and 0.800 (χ2 = 0.25, P > 0.05) respectively in that made by another dermatologist.Conclusion There is a high consistency between dermoscopy and histopathology in the diagnosis of facial nonpigmented actinic keratosis.