The following communication summarizes the proceedings of a one-day International Workshop focusing on the histology of benign melanocytic nevi. Areas of controversy identified in 6 focus sessions were the nomenclature and relationships among common nevi including nevi with halo reactions, traumatized nevi, "dysplastic" nevi, and nevi from particular anatomic sites; developmental biology and fr...

INTRODUCTION Galanin is a neuropeptide with wide-ranging effects, especially within the endocrine and nervous systems. Galanin and its receptors are present in human skin. Galanin is expressed in different neural, endocrine and neuroendocrine tumors and, on the other hand, several neuropeptides, particularly alpha-MSH, seem to play a role in the pathogenesis of melanoma. OBJECTIVE To investig...

Figure 1. The surgical incision is marked for first-stage serial excision. DESCRIPTION A 4-year-old girl presented with congenital melanocytic nevus on the right forearm.

Melanocytic nevi are recognized as precursors of melanoma. Aiding in early recognition of melanoma, we estimated color texture parameters, fractal dimension and lacunarity of melanoma and other melanocytic nevi. Digital images of the lesions were processed. Graphic three-dimensional pseudoelevation images of the lesions and surrounding skin were produced to identify irregularities in color text...

Garment-like giant congenital melanocytic nevi are very rare, and those being treated are most often offered excision and split-thickness skin transplantation. Due to the risk of restricted mobility secondary to shrinkage and hypertrophic scarring of the transplant, we treated to date the largest reported giant congenital melanocytic nevus (16% total body surface area) with Integra dermal regen...

OBJECTIVES To examine the role of sequential dermoscopy imaging in detecting incipient melanoma and to elucidate the impact of length of follow-up on the relevance of observed changes. DESIGN Baseline and follow-up images of melanomas and melanocytic nevi excised only because of changes across time were inspected on a computer screen and assessed according to prospectively defined criteria. L...

Nevi are common skin tumors caused by abnormal overgrowth of cells from the epidermal and dermal layers of the skin. Most nevi are benign, but some pre-cancerous nevi must be monitored or removed. The giant congenital nevus is greater than 10 cm in size, pigmented and often hairy. Between 4% and 6% of these lesions will develop into a malignant melanoma. Since approximately 50% of the melanoma ...

IMPORTANCE In the surveillance of familial melanoma, the identification of children at greater risk of developing melanoma later in life would serve as a helpful tool. OBJECTIVE To determine whether acquired melanocytic nevi in childhood are an indicator of risk of melanoma in children from families with familial melanoma. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A 20-year follow-up study of a coh...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intense pulsed light (IPL) irradiator system for the treatment of benign pigmented lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 18 patients with lentigo solaris and eight patients with melanocytic nevi were treated once with an IPL system. After 2 months, the effect was evaluated on close-up photographs. RESUL...