ABSTRACT
Under dermoscopy, the presence of a pseudonetwork is characteristic of pigmented lesions on the face. This feature is not related to the rete ridges of the epidermis – which are absent or blunted due to the anatomy of the skin in this area and to photoaging – but is due to the interruption of the homogeneous pigmentation by the openings of hair follicle ostia and adnexal structures (Table 6.1)
6b: Lesions on palms and soles (Figures 6.1a-c, A14-18) Dermoscopy can improve the clinician’s diagnostic accuracy when evaluating volar lesions. Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is the most frequent type of melanoma in non-white populations, wherease ALM accounts for about 4.5-7% of all melanomas in white populations. However, the overall incidence in all populations, regardless of race, seems to be equivalent. It is intuitively obvious that the clinical recognition of benign lesions will decrease the number of unnecessary surgeries. In addition, the increase in sensitivity of diagnosing ALM will improve the early detection of this cancer.
