Skin Biopsy

A skin biopsy is a test in which all or a portion of a suspicious area of the skin is removed by your physician so that it can be examined under a microscope. It is a simple, usually painless procedure that may be accomplished in one of three ways. In a shave biopsy, a portion of the uppermost layers of skin can be gently “scraped” off with a special tool. In the case of a punch biopsy, the doctor uses a tool with a circular blade to extract a sample that includes deeper layers of the skin. For an excisional biopsy, the physician “excises” (removes) an entire mole, lump or patch of skin that is affected, including a margin of the normal-appearing skin surrounding it, using a scalpel. While a skin biopsy is typically performed for purposes of detecting skin cancer – the most common type of cancer in existence – other conditions that this test may help diagnose include bacterial and fungal skin infections and common to complex skin conditions such as psoriasis or eczema.