Vic man slashed after confronting burglar

A man has been slashed with a pocketknife after confronting a burglar during a Melbourne home invasion.

Police say the 51-year-old received a nasty cut under chin and a cut to his chest after confronting a man inside his Jacana home about 5am on Tuesday.

While the offender dropped the knife at the scene, Detective Senior Constable Phil Crawford described him as "extremely dangerous".

"Usually in our neck of the woods they're usually known parties to each other but on this occasion it would appear that it's just, I suppose, what we'd call a dumb crook or a person who doesn't know what he's doing," Det Sen Const Crawford told Fairfax Radio.

"He's come upon someone in the house and he's been challenged.

"He's extremely dangerous."

The victim's parents were also in the home at the time.

"They were asleep upstairs and heard the commotion and came down but it was all finished luckily before they came down," Det Sen Const Crawford said.

"Who knows what would have happened if his elderly parents had come down."

The victim did not require medical attention.

Local police and airwing crews are still searching for the offender, believed to be in his late teens or early 20s.