Dermoscopic Patterns of Acral Melanocytic Nevi in Koreans

Kang, Yoo Seok; Kim, Sung Woo; Lee, Un Ha; Park, Hyun Su; Jang, Sang Jai; Hwang, Seon Wook

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Melanocytic nevi are frequently found in acral skin. Benign melanocytic lesions on acral sites may be difficult to differentiate from early acral melanoma by visual examination even for experienced dermatologists. Dermoscopy is a noninvasive method for evaluating pigmented skin lesions.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical and dermoscopic features of acral melanocytic nevi in Koreans.
METHODS
We studied 57 patients with acral melanocytic lesions using standard clinical assessment and dermoscopy. The patients were examined for acral melanocytic nevi clinically and by using a dermoscope with a digital imaging system, and the acral nevi larger than 7 mm and the suspicious lesions were excised and examined histopathologically.
RESULTS
Sixty five acral melanocytic nevi were observed in 57 patients. Individual lesions were located on the soles (n=32), palms (n=11), and volar aspect of the fingers or toes (n=22). The most common dermoscopic pattern was the parallel furrow pattern (52.3%). The other patterns seen were a latticelike pattern (21.6%), a fibrillar pattern (9.2%), a reticular pattern (6.2%), a globular pattern (4.6%), a nontypical pattern (4.6%) and a transition pattern (1.5%). The frequency of distribution of the fibrillar and reticular patterns was significantly different (p=0.033, p=0.015).
CONCLUSION
Dermoscopy proved to be a useful instrument for the evaluation of acral melanocytic lesions. In our series of acral nevi, we observed 7 dermoscopic patterns with varying distributions on anatomical sites. We think that further studies on acral melanocytic nevi with digital follow-up are needed to clarify their evolution.