Pigmented skin lesions: are they all of melanocytic origin? a histopathological perspective

ABSTRACT

To study the pattern of pigmented skin lesions in Manipur. This was a retrospective analysis of pigmented skin lesions received at the Department of Pathology, RIMS, Imphal Manipur. Pigmented skin lesions which were histologically reported from January 2005 to December 2012 were reviewed and analysed according to age, gender, site of occurrence and histological types. A total of 183 pigmented skin lesions were histologically reported during the period under review in 57 male and 126 female patients with a male to female ratio of 1 2.21. Maximum of the cases were seen in the age group of 21 to 30 years, with the youngest patient being 4 years and the oldest being 77 years. It was found that the most common site was the face [51.4%] followed by the arms [8.9%]. Melanocytic nevi were the most common pigmentary lesion which accounted for 74.3% of the cases followed by melanoma [9.8%] and seborrheic keratosis[6%]. In this study the commonest benign pigmented lesion was melanocytic nevi and melanoma had the highest incidence from among the malignant lesions.