Patent ID: 8622925

Claim:
A method of collecting tissue from a region of skin comprising the steps of: holding a dermal punch having a cutting edge extending along a first wall and a second wall with a plurality of teeth including at least a first apex tooth and at least a second apex tooth, the first wall and the second wall forming a cavity having a fusiform shape, the cavity having a major axis and a minor axis that are perpendicular to a vertical axis of the dermal punch, each of the first apex tooth and the second apex tooth extending in a distal direction along the cutting edge, the first apex tooth and the second apex tooth being positioned along the major axis; positioning the cutting edge relative to a selected region of skin of a patient; initially puncturing the skin with the first apex tooth and the second apex tooth with the cutting edge of the dermal punch by pushing the first apex tooth and the second apex tooth into the region of skin; and continuing to insert additional portions of the cutting edge into the skin of the patient to cut a fusiform shaped region of skin.