Provided is a scanning endoscope apparatus (1) including: a light source section (2) that emits illuminating light； an optical fiber (3) that guides and applies the illuminating light from a distal end in such a manner that the illuminating light has directionality； a shutter (4) and an intermittent light output control section (5) that control, with a predetermined cycle, a light application period and an interruption period for the illuminating light； a drive element (7) and a scanning drive section (8) that scan the distal end of the optical fiber (3)； a light detecting section (12) that detects light from a scanning range at the distal end of the optical fiber (3)； an extrinsic light component removal section (13) that extracts a return light component of the illuminating light by removing an extrinsic light component obtained based on a detection result of the light detecting section (12) in the interruption period, from a detection result of the light detecting section in the light application period； and an image processing section (15) that forms an image from the return light component, based on information of the direction of the distal end of the optical fiber (3) from the scanning drive section (8).
