Skin specimens will be submitted to histology after being obtained by various surgical biopsy procedures, such as shaving, punch, or curettage methods. Skin specimens will generally be oriented so that sections will be taken at an angle perpendicular to the epidermis. Identifying the epidermis is a good first step in deciding the correct orientation of most skin specimens. However, since important diagnostic information can easily be lost with incorrect orientation of skin samples, it is important to verify the specimen type and biopsy type using the accession log, embedding worksheet, or gross description before proceeding. Do not merely rely on visual recognition itself.
