The evolution of confocal microscopy in dermatology

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) is a diagnostic imaging tool used to visualize the skin in vivo at the bedside with accuracy that parallels histology. For tissue examination, RCM uses lasers to produce optical sections by illuminating the specimen and by scanning focused beams of light across the tissue. The principle of point illumination in confocal microscopy was first proposed by Marvin Minsky in 1955, and serves as the basis for all subsequent developments for this technology. In the 1970s, lasers were introduced, and shortly after that photomicrographs of histologically recognizable cells were published.