An apparatus for use in examining an object, such as skin, mucosa and cervical tissues for detecting cancer and precancerous conditions therein. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a gun-shaped housing having a handle portion and a barrel portion. The front end of the barrel portion is open, and a glass cover is mounted therein. LED's are disposed within the handle portion. A manually-operable switch for controlling actuation of the LED's is accessible on the handle portion. An optical fiber is used to transmit light from the LED's through a first polarizer in the barrel portion and then through the glass cover to illuminate a desired object. Reflected light from the object is passed through a second polarizer, which is adjustably mounted in the barrel portion and which is preferably oriented to pass depolarized light emitted from an illuminated object, and is then imaged by optics onto a CCD detector. The detector is coupled to a wireless transmitter that transmits the output from the detector to a remotely located wireless receiver.
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