Services

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a diagnostic tool for cutaneous conditions that allows clinicians to visualize cellular details of the skin without the need for an invasive procedure. Using a painless laser (800 nm) to illuminate a small area of skin, light is reflected back to the detector through a pinhole, permitting passage of light from the in-focus field only. With this input, a computer generates a two-dimensional grayscale image that corresponds to an en face tissue section (ie. parallel to the skin surface). The contrast visualized by RCM is determined by the differential reflectance capability of various skin structures. The end result is an image of the epidermis and superficial dermis, with cellular resolution, obtained in vivo and in real time.

EIV Diagnostics offers 3 types of confocal microscopy services, each with corresponding CPT codes. Clinicians who own a confocal microscope can send their images to us for diagnosis, as they would traditionally send prepared histopathology glass slides. Alternatively, they can send a patient to our laboratory to image a lesion, and receive those images to diagnosis themselves, like traditional slide preparation services. Finally, they can use EIV Diagnostics for global diagnosis, which includes imaging of the lesion and generation of the final report.