Routine use of perioperative in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy of the nail matrix in melanonychia striata: a report of 30 cases

in situ or minimally invasive melanoma can be treated by nonamputative wide excision of the nail unit followed by a skin graft, performed by a dermatologic surgeon, with an excellent cosmetic and functional result that does not impair the prognosis.1-2 We previously published a preliminary study showing a good correlation between perioperative Reflectance Confocal Microscopy (RCM) and histopathology of the nail matrix in case of subungual melanoma (SUM)3. Since then, we used perioperative in vivo RCM in our centre, after informed consent of patient, during surgical exploration of 30 consecutive cases of suspicious MS between 1/11/2012 and 31/03/2016. This study was approved by the institutional review board of our centre (n°0180) and followed the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.