Who we are

In 1999, the ambitious trio John Bottjer, Nizar Mullani, and Thorsten Trotzenberg founded 3Gen (now DermLite LLC) as a visionary product design and development company headquartered in beautiful Orange County, California.

Today, DermLite has outgrown its garage roots, embracing an expansive, cutting-edge facility nestled in Aliso Viejo, California. Here, our skilled technicians meticulously craft, assemble, refine and service each product, while our dedicated team across the United States and beyond advocates for the empowering potential of dermoscopy.

Revolutionizing Dermoscopy
Our groundbreaking journey took flight in the year 2000, when Nizar — leveraging a rich background in the physics of medical imaging — proposed the idea of combining newly-available efficient white LEDs with reflection-annihilating linear polarizers. Thorsten — a visionary product designer —breathed life into the idea, creating the iconic DermLite DL100 design, the world's first polarized handheld dermatoscope. John leveraged his experience and connections with the global dermatology community to market the product worldwide.

This unassuming, palm-sized tool broke all conventions. No need for skin contact. No immersion fluid. No spare bulbs. Not even a recharge. Introduced at the 2001 meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, the DL100 turned out to be instrumental in helping kick off the worldwide success story that is dermoscopy.

A year later, DermLite fleshed out its product line with Foto, the world's first polarized dermatoscope designed to attach to the majority of consumer cameras.

Creating Today's Gold Standard
The DermLite II series, launched in 2004, raised the bar yet again, being the first polarized pocket dermatoscope that enabled non-contact and contact dermoscopy, with or without immersion fluids. As part of that series, we launched the world's first hybrid dermatoscope in 2006, allowing instant toggling between polarized and non-polarized modalities, today's gold standard, paving the way for dermoscopic discoveries including the blink sign which helped dermoscopy progress.

Turning Smartphones into Dermoscopic Cameras
When smartphones infiltrated the world, DermLite responded. We became the first to harness magnetic attachments, enabling anyone with a smartphone to take high-resolution dermoscopic images with nothing more than a DermLite dermatoscope and an affordable MagnetiConnect adapter.

DermLite headquarters in Aliso Viejo, California map

Innovating for the Discoveries of Tomorrow
The end of 2022 heralded the arrival of our masterpiece — the DL5. The first full-featured pocket dermatoscope with variable polarization that allows for pioneering discoveries through ultraviolet reflectance dermoscopy.

Together. For the Love of Dermoscopy.
In March 2024, Germany-based FotoFinder Systems GmbH, a global leader in skin imaging solutions, announced its acquisition of DermLite LLC. This strategic alliance signifies a milestone in the field of dermatology, bringing together two internationally acclaimed pioneers with a history of setting standards and a shared dedication to advancing dermatological care.

For more than two decades, DermLite has relentlessly striven to bring dermoscopy to the forefront, and the portability and ease of use of our products, combined with our adaptable, user-centric approach, underpinned by significant investments in education and research, have played a key role in the worldwide dermoscopy surge.

We are a force of innovation, fueled by a wealth of experience in medical product design, engineering, and marketing. We pride ourselves on delivering advanced, practical, and intuitive design solutions that seamlessly blend into the daily workflow of modern medical professionals.

At DermLite, we craft with care, and design with the user in mind, creating intuitive solutions that simplify interaction and inspire our customers to elevate their dermoscopy through joy of use. Our relentless quest for better patient care fuels us to design products that are unobtrusive yet elegant, allowing medical professionals to concentrate on what matters most: their patients.