Introduction:

Photomarking is a non-invasive technique that involves the application of a photosensitizer and subsequent visualization with a Wood’s lamp to determine the margins of non-melanoma skin cancer. This could be useful in conjunction with Mohs micrographic surgery by more precisely defining the histological tumor margins.

Objective:

To compare the tumor limits between clinical demarcation, dermatoscopic demarcation, and ALA demarcation in cutaneous carcinomas, and corroborate them with the surgical defect obtained by MMS.

Method:

Observational, descriptive, and prospective study. The tumor areas of non-melanoma skin cancer observed by clinic, dermatoscopy, photomarking, and final surgical defect were compared.

Results:

The average clinical area was 1,77 cm2 (SD 0.55), the average dermatoscopic area was 1,93 cm2 (SD 0,55), the average area by photomarking was 2,14 cm2 (SD 0,55), and the average area of the final surgical defect was 4,41 cm2 (SD 1,12).

Conclusions:

It was not possible to demonstrate that photomapping provides a statistically significant advantage over clinical and dermatoscopic marking. Further studies are needed to determine the role of this technique.

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