Skin Snips

Skin snips may be useful in the diagnosis of microfilarial infections such as onchocerciasis in which the parasites circulate in the skin and not the blood. A small (2-mm) skin snip is taken with a needle and a knife. The needle point is stuck into the skin, and the skin is raised. With a sharp knife or razor blade, the skin is excised just below the needle. Alternatively, a scleral punch may be used. The skin snip is then placed in a small volume (0.2 ml) of saline in a tube or a microtiter well, teased, and allowed to stand for 30 min or more. The microfilariae migrate from the tissue into the saline, which is then examined microscopically to demonstrate the wiggling microfilariae. 

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Remove the back skin, trim any loose subcutaneous tissue and snip the subder-mal layer. Massage blood from the skin with damp tissue paper. Be sure that no blood remains in the small vessels as the 11 In-eosinophils in this blood will be counted as tissue 11 In-eosinophils. 

Excision is the removal of tissue utilizing a number of different techniques. A snip excision using a pair of Wescott surgical scissors can be used to remove or excise any pedunculated lesions such as skin tags or stalked verrucae. A shave excision, using a no. 15 scalpel, is used to remove a lesion or a section of a lesion. It is often used to take a tissue sample fc>r a biopsy. 

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