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Letter  |  Dermatol Pract Concept 2015;5(3):5 23

DERMATOLOGY PRACTICAL & CONCEPTUAL
www.derm101.com

Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Giacomel, Zalaudek and Marghoob analyzed the differ-

ent approaches of metaphoric and descriptive terminology in 

dermoscopy based on lessons from the cognitive sciences [1].

In our view, both approaches are used effectively daily 

and worldwide:

• “Blink” is the first, more metaphoric-based diagnosis at a 

glance for most of the lesions in our clinical setting (e.g., 

“arborizing” vessels or “spoke-wheel” pigmentation are 

the hint for a basal cell carcinoma, “strawberry” pattern 

for actinic keratosis).

• “Think” is the analytic procedure which starts when 

“blink” fails in describing a lesion and this mostly descrip-

tive analysis then starts the process for a correct dermo-

scopic diagnosis.

There is no doubt that for the metaphoric and descriptive 

based diagnoses, a simplified and clear, effective and universal 

dermoscopic language should be the basis in any clinical and 

scientific setting [1]. For the dermoscopy method, in teach-

ing and in daily use, the question is not that either “blink” 

(more metaphoric) or “think” (more descriptive) is correct, 

but both methods could be applied effectively and should be 

complimentary.

Reference
 1.  Giacomel J, Zalaudek I, Marghoob AA. Metaphoric and descrip-

tive teminology in dermoscopy: Lessons from the cognitive sci-
ences. Dermatol Pract Concept 2015;5(2):11.

Metaphoric and descriptive terminology in 
dermoscopy: Combine “blink” with “think”

Andreas Blum1, Giuseppe Argenziano2

1 Dermatology, Public, Private and Teaching Practice, Konstanz, Germany
2 Dermatology Unit, Second University of Naples, Italy

Citation: Blum A, Argenziano G. [Letter] Metaphoric and descriptive terminology in dermoscopy: Combine “blink” with “think”. 
Dermatol Pract Concept 2015;5(3):5. doi: 10.5826/dpc.0503a05

Copyright: ©2015 Blum et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, 
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Corresponding author: Andreas Blum, MD, Public, Private and Teaching Practice of Dermatology, Seestrasse 3a, 78464, Konstanz, 
Germany. Tel. +49 7531 643 11; Fax. +49 7531 600 54. E-mail: a.blum@derma.de

mailto:a.blum@derma.de