ABSTRACT
Genital melanosis (GM) is a relatively frequent, asymptomatic and benign pigmentation of the genitalia seen in both males and females. The diagnosis is usually made by a physical examination and a complete medical history. Dermoscopy may be a useful aid for assisting the clinical recognition of GM. Additionally, reflectance confocal microscopy has also been showed to facilitate the diagnosis of GM and its differentiation from malignant pigmented lesions. In doubtful cases, a biopsy must be taken to perform histologic, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural features in order to achieve a definitive diagnosis. Dermoscopy of GM has been widely studied in females, while only few case reports have been reported in males. The polycircular pattern is usually found only on the papillomatous surface of the outer edge of the labia minora and presents as polycircular brown pigmented areas. Finally, in a subset of patients, GM may occur as a post-inflammatory pigmentation on the background of either lichen planus or lichen sclerosus.
