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It is with my great pleasure that I write the preface on the new book of Prof.Jie Liu and Prof.Xianbiao Zou on Practical Dermoscopy .Including information on the history of the method，the instrument itself，criteria seen in tumors and inflammatory diseases and diagnostic methods and algorithms，I strongly believe that it represents a complete guide that will be useful for all clinicians，irrespectively of their level of experience.I am confident that this book will significantly enhance the dissemination of dermatoscopy among our chinese-speaking colleagues and motivate numerous young researchers to generate ideas for future research on areas that it is still much needed.
It is true that dermatoscopy radically changed not only our daily practice，but dermatology itself.As a field dealing mainly with morphology，dermatology was literally re-defined when the previously unexplored world of sub-macroscopical structures came to light.In addition to that，research in dermatoscopy generated novel ideas，questioned previously established concepts and demolished pre-existing“dogmas”.The most characteristic example is the radical change in the concepts of melanoma genesis and the biologic significance of nevi.Our perception today is very much different from the“old-world”theory that melanoma represents a malignant transformation of nevi.Of course this modification was not a result of dermatoscopy only，but our ability to“see”melanoma at early stages significantly contributed in questioning the previously predominant theory of“pre-melanomas”.
While there is no doubt that our ability to diagnose skin cancer earlier is the most important impact of dermatoscopy，it is not the only one.Numerous cutaneous inflammations and infections have been dermatoscopically investigated and their morphologic characteristics need to be re-considered，re-established and re-written in a combined macroscopic plus sub-macroscopic context.
Finally，dermatoscopy continuously generates more and more passionate teachers and researchers and exemplifies how clinicians continuously struggle for self-improvement in order to provide a better service to their patients.
Bright examples of passionate teachers and researchers are the Editors of this book，which I invite to you to acquire and read in depth.
With my best wishes！
General Secretary of the International Dermoscopy Society
2020.3