DERMOSCOPY
A pink papule
Amanda Oakley and Marius Rademaker
Tristram Clinic, Hamilton, New Zealand
CASE HISTORY
A 33-year-old woman attended for skin examination by
digital dermoscopy (mole mapping). She was fair skinned
(Fitzpatrick phototype I) with blue eyes and red hair. She
reported many sunburns in childhood, and exposure to
sunbeds two or three times weekly for several years during
her early 20s. There was no known personal or family
history of skin cancer. Examination revealed moderate
freckling and few tan-coloured melanocytic naevi. The
patient was concerned about a lesion that first appeared
over her right hip 6–12 months ago, and had recently dark-
ened in colour.
Examination revealed a dome-shaped pink papule, 6 mm
in diameter (Fig. 1a). Dermoscopy revealed a prominent
central cluster of red globules and red dotted vessels
(Fig. 1b). There was no pigment network.
DERMOSCOPY CONTINUING MEDICAL
EDUCATION (CME) QUESTIONS
True or false statements:
1. Skin phototype I patients often have pink naevi – True/
False
2. The lesion is a single colour and has a symmetrical
structure clinically – True/False
3. There is no pigment network, so this is a non-
melanocytic skin lesion – True/False
4. Pigmented lesions of single colour and symmetrical
structure are nearly always benign – True/False
5. Prominent red spots in this lesion are lacunes indicat-
ing the lesion to be a haemangioma – True/False
6. The red spots in this lesion are typical of glomerular
vessels seen in intraepidermal carcinoma (Bowen
disease) – True/False
7. Dotted vessels are uncommon in amelanotic mela-
noma – True/False
8. Hairpin vessels are typically seen in thin melanoma –
True/False
9. Classic Spitz naevus presents as a dome-shaped pink
papule with symmetrical structure – True/False
10. The benign clinical and dermoscopic features of this
lesion mean there is no need to excise it – True/False
Correspondence: Dr Amanda Oakley, Tristram Clinic, 6 Knox
Street, Hamilton, New Zealand. Email: oakley@wave.co.nz
Amanda Oakley, FRACP. Marius Rademaker, FRACP.
Conflict of interest: Amanda Oakley and Marius Rademaker have
been paid consultancy fees by MoleMap NZ.
Submitted 12 October 2008; accepted 20 October 2008.
a
b
Figure 1 (a) Macro view of lesion on the left hip. (b) Dermoscopic
view of the same lesion.
Australasian Journal of Dermatology (2009) 50, 66–69 doi: 10.1111/j.1440-0960.2008.00510.x
© 2009 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2009 The Australasian College of Dermatologists