Pigmented Bowen's Disease Clinically Mimicking Melanoma of the Nail

Abstract

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Melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma on different nails of the same hand

“…13,14 More frequently, however, squamous cell carcinoma of the nail unit presents as a warty tumor, a draining subungual mass, or a nonspecific mass of the nail apparatus. *Rarely, squamous cell carcinoma of the nail may present with melanonychia [15][16][17][18] and must be considered in the differential diagnosis.…”

A Case of Pigmented Bowen's Disease

“…Thus far, there has been only 1 case of pigmented Bowen's disease on the umbilicus in the literature 1 , and no such cases have been reported in Korea. This type of lesion commonly presents as a hyperpigmented, sharply marginated plaque with a surface that may be velvety, verrucous or flat, and it is generally asymptomatic [4][5][6] . Scaling and erosions may be present as well 4,7 .…”

“…We think some factors like gravity or repetitive, downward scratching motion may have had an influence on these characteristic features, but the reason for this appearance was not revealed in the literature. Sunlight and chronic arsenic exposure are well-known favorable factors for incurring Bowen's disease [4][5][6] , and this included the pigmented variant. Several other factors such as viral infection, trauma, and radiation have been described as possible etiologic factors 2 .…”

“…It is characterized by slowly growing, sharply demarcated, erythematous plaques that have a scaly or crusted surface 1,6 . Sunlight and chronic arsenic exposure are well-known favorable factors to develop this lesion [1][2][3] .…”

“…Bowen's disease is intraepidermal squamous cell carcinoma (carcinoma in situ) and it has the potential to progress to invasive carcinoma [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] . It is characterized by slowly growing, sharply demarcated, erythematous plaques that have a scaly or crusted surface 1,6 .…”