Look at vessels last in deciding on the nature of a lesion. They are the least reliable feature to use. Identify the predominant vessel type and check with the table below. Serpentine and linear branching of BCC are fairly reliable as is the polymorphous pattern with dot vessels for an amelanotic melanoma. The sheet of coiled vessels found in SCC in situ is also a good marker. Easily recognisable benign vessel patterns are the purple clod pattern of hemangiomas, the centred vessel pattern of seborrhoeic keratoses, the serpiginous dot vessel pattern of clear cell acanthomas and prurigo nodules and the reticular vessel pattern of chronic sun damage on the face
