Dermatoscopic findings of urticaria pigmentosa

Abstract

Mastocytosis is a rare disease characterized by proliferation and accumulation of mast cells in various organs. The maculopapular cutaneus mastocytosis is divided into three subtypes: papular/plaque variant, urticaria pigmentosa and eruptive macular telangiectasia perstans. Dermoscopic may help to better characterize the different forms of cutaneus mastocytosis. We report a 55 year-old female with urticaria pigmentosa and its dermoscopy.

Dermoscopy of urticaria pigmentosa

“…[ 1 2 ] The dermoscopic findings in other variants of cutaneous mastocytosis have been detailed in Table 1 . In our case, in addition to the reticular brownish pigment network already described previously,[ 1 2 3 ] we also found an underlying reddish background in all the lesions. Though a similar pigment network is seen in both melanocytic nevi and UP, the underlying reddish background seen in the present case is missing in the former, which can help differentiate between the two.…”

Dermatoscopy in diagnosing maculopapular cutaneous mastocytosis

“…All of them agreed that maculopapular CM, is dermatoscopically presented with brown reticular lines in combination with reddish to brown blot. [1,3,4,8] Dermatoscopic analysis of pigmented lesions in the presented patient, revealed irregular reticular lines with no typical regular holes as they can be usually seen in epidermal melanocytic nevi. Therefore, the term pigment networklike structure is more suitable to use in the presented case than pigment network.…”

“…Urticaria pigmentosa in adults is more likely to progress to systemic disease and its severity is related to the age of onset and to the size of cutaneous involvement. [1,9] Therefore, early diagnosis of CM is preferred.…”

“…[1] It is classified as cutaneous or systemic mastocytosis. Cutaneous mastocytosis (CM) is further classified into the five groups by Hartmann and Henz (Table 1).…”

“…[5][6][7] Skin lesions of mastocytosis represent one more nonmelanocytic lesion that may exhibit a pigment network. [1,3,4,8] …”