Vulvar lesions are a common reason for consultation in dermatology or gynecology [1], and a biopsy of these lesions is often necessary to avoid missing a precancerous or cancerous lesion. Generally, a vulvar biopsy should be performed in the most suspicious area, except for ulcerated areas where it should be performed in the periphery [2].

Punch biopsy was developed for skin and since the vulva is largely skin, it is the first choice in most cases as it provides an excellent quality specimen in terms of size, depth and lack of artefacts.

The recommended technique for vulvar biopsy by some societies is to perform a punch biopsy (PB) under local anesthesia [3,4]. Other societies recommend performing a cervical forceps biopsy (CFB) for more pedunculated or non-planar lesions [2]. The CFB may be technically easier to implement and equally effective than the PB, but there is no study that has compared the relevance of these two techniques.

The primary objective of our study is to investigate the rate of non-contributory biopsies between PB and CFB for a vulvar lesion seen in consultation.

The secondary objective of our study is to evaluate the rate of underestimation of a more severe lesion for patients who have undergone vulvar excision.