Skin melanocytic tumor

Lentigines, melanotic macules and melanocytic hyperplasia

Lentigo



Last author update: 1 April 2013
Last staff update: 10 March 2023

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PubMed Search: Solar lentigo

Christopher S. Hale, M.D.
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Cite this page: Hale CS. Lentigo. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/skintumormelanocyticsolarlentigo.html. Accessed March 18th, 2024.
Definition / general
Terminology
  • Also called solar lentigines, age spots
Epidemiology
  • Sun exposed skin of elderly (90% of whites age 60+); also truck drivers on sun exposed face (J Dermatol 2008;35:146)
  • Multiple large solar lentigos on upper back and shoulders suggest prior severe sunburn, a risk factor for melanoma (Dermatology 2007;214:25)
  • PUVA (psoralen + ultraviolet A) treatment for psoriasis cause numerous solar lentigines with atypia; similar findings after severe radiation exposure (Arch Dermatol 1997;133:209)
Clinical features
  • Macular hyperpigmentation
  • Often > 1 cm
  • "Ink spot lentigo" variant: small, darkly pigmented, stellate
Treatment
Dermoscopy
  • Sharply demarcated border and fingerprint like structures
Clinical images

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Back lesions

Pre and post laser treatment

Microscopic (histologic) description
  • Elongation of rete ridges and increased pigmentation at tips of retes; pigmentation may be irregular
  • Also solar elastosis, telangiectasia, variable chronic inflammatory infiltrate in dermis
Differential diagnosis
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