Abstract
BACKGROUND: Benign skin, soft tissue and appendageal tumours of skin are one of the most frequently encountered skin disorders. An organised systematic approach along with dermoscopic and histopathological examination can aid in the diagnosis of these diverse disorders. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinico-dermoscopic and histopathological findings of benign skin, soft tissue and appendageal tumours of skin in patients attending a tertiary care hospital. METHODS: Cross-sectional hospital-based study where patients of all age groups irrespective of gender suspected of having benign skin, soft tissue and appendageal tumours were enrolled. Clinical, dermoscopic and histopathological findings were recorded and the agreements between them were evaluated using the Cohen's Kappa coefficient. RESULTS: The study included a total of 415 patients with a mean age of 37.9 ± 15.59 years and a male to female ratio of 1:1.3. The mean duration of the disease was 4.3 ± 2.14 years. Soft tissue tumours were the commonest (60%), followed by benign skin tumours (24.3%) and benign appendageal tumours (17.1%). A good agreement between dermoscopic and clinical diagnosis was found (Cohen's Kappa = 0.879) and between dermoscopic and histopathological diagnosis was also found (Cohen's Kappa = 0.789). CONCLUSION: This study infers that benign tumours of the skin include a heterogeneous group of skin disorders affecting a heterogeneous population. Dermoscopy improved the diagnostic accuracy of this large group of skin disorders and reduced the number of unnecessary excisions; however, histopathology remains the benchmark diagnostic tool to differentiate these tumours from other benign tumours and their malignant counterparts.