“Milia-like cysts (MLCs) are dermoscopic structures frequently observed in seborrheic keratoses(SKs), which are the most common type of skin lesions. Diverse appearances of these skin lesions make them difficult to differentiate from melanoma, a deadly type of skin cancer. Classified by size into two main groups, starry MLCs and cloudy MLCs, the presence of these structures in a skin lesion has been known to help differentiate benign lesions from melanoma. Though the presence of cloudy MLCs is not exclusively associated with SKs, they can be a useful tool to differentiate SKs from melanoma. This research study determines the statistical occurrence of MLCs in benign vs. malignant lesions and presents models to differentiate them from the mimics. Various distinct features of these structures such as size, brightness relative to surrounding area, color and shape were used to mark them among the lesions in a training set. A logistic regression model was then used to verify the significant features differentiating these structures from the MLCs and resulted in an area under the receiver operating curve (ROC) of 92.4% for cloudy MLCs and 88.2% for starry MLCs. These models were validated by using a test set”--Abstract, page iv
