Transepidermal Elimination of Nevus Cells in Acral Lentiginous Nevus / 대한피부과학회지

Pigmented lesions of palmar and plantar skin may cause diagnostic problems, because some features of benign lesions in these sites may raise the suspicion of melanoma if considered alone. Transepidermal elimlnation is a mechanism by which a substance is eliminated through the epidermis, and it is apt to be confused with a feature of melanoma that tumor cells are located at all layers of the epidermis. We report a case of transepidermal elimination of nevus cells in acral letiginous nevus which needs a differential dignosis of melanoma.

A Case of Acral Lentiginous Nevus / 대한피부과학회지

Acral lentiginous nevus(ALN) is a new disease entity recently proposed by Clemente et al in 1995. The main histopathological features of ALN are characterized by elongation of the rete ridges, lentiginous proliferation of melanocytes at the dermo-epidermal junction, the presence of melanocytes within the upper epidermis, poor or absent lateral circumscription of the intraepithelial melanocytes and, in the dermis, fibroplasia, vascular neogenesis, and lymphoid infiltration, which enable clinicians to distinguish these nevi from ordinary nevi and melanoma. We, herein, report a case of ALN of plantar skin with unique histopathological characteristics.