Dermatology: Practical and Conceptual DERMATOLOGY PRACTICAL & CONCEPTUAL www.derm101.com Observation | Dermatol Pract Concept 2013;3(4):6 29 Case presentation A 69-year-old Japanese man presented with pigmented skin lesions on the inguinal regions (Figure 1). The lesions were first noticed three years earlier, and they subsequently spread to the chest (Figure 2) and back. The patient had no spe- cific symptoms but reported that his father had had similar lesions. Physical examination showed dark brown macules of up to 20 mm in diameter with partial confluence (Figure 3). Some of the macules were intermingled with atrophic whitish areas interiorly. The macules on the chest tended to be smaller (maximum diameter: 5 mm) and lighter in color than those on the back. Dermoscopy demonstrated central brown pigmentation with many blue-gray dots surrounded by a single hypopigmented band, namely “white track” at the periphery (Figure 4). The peripheral border of the white track showed light brown pigmentation, making the white track recognizable. There was no whitish linear structure cor- responding to Wickham’s striae often seen in lichen planus. A biopsy was taken from the peripheral ridge of a brown macule on the right inguinal area. Inguinal porokeratosis in a Japanese man Yuka Hayashi1, Masahiko Ozeki1, Sumiko Ishizaki1, Mariko Fujibayashi2, Yoshihiko Mitsuhashi3, Miki Izumi4, Masaru Tanaka1 1 Department of Dermatology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University Medical Center East, Tokyo, Japan 2 Department of Pathology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University Medical Center East, Tokyo, Japan 3 Department of Dermatology, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan 4 Department of Medical Education, Tokyo Medical University, Tokyo, Japan Key words: porokeratosis, genital, inguinal, dermoscopy Citation: Hayashi Y, Ozeki M, Ishizaki S, Fujibayashi M, Mitsuhashi Y, Izumi M, Tanaka M. Inguinal porokeratosis in a Japanese man. Dermatol Pract Conc. 2013;3(4):6. http://dx.doi.org/10.5826/dpc.0304a06. Received: May 19, 2013; Accepted: July 21, 2013; Published: October 31, 2013 Copyright: ©2013 Hayashi et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: None. Competing interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. All authors have contributed significantly to this publication. Corresponding author: Masaru Tanaka, M.D., Department of Dermatology, Tokyo Women’s Medical University Medical Center East, 2-1- 10 Nishi-Ogu, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-8567, Japan. Tel: +81 3 3810 1111. Fax: +81 3 3894 1441. E-mail: masarutanaka@1984.jukuin. keio.ac.jp Inguinal and genital porokeratosis are rare but seem to be more common in Asians. We report a case of a 69-year-old Japanese man with multiple lesions of porokeratosis in both inguinal regions. The le- sions first appeared in the inguinal region and subsequently spread to the trunk. The patient reported that his father had had similar lesions. Dermoscopy demonstrated central brown pigmentation and blue-gray dots surrounded by a single “white track” at the periphery. The exterior border of the white track also showed light brown pigmentation. Genital or inguinal porokeratosis is uncommon and may be misdiagnosed as Bowen’s disease, lichen planus or extramammary Paget’s disease. However, aware- ness of this entity and the use of dermoscopy are helpful to establish a correct diagnosis. ABSTRACT 30 Observation | Dermatol Pract Concept 2013;3(4):6 Histopathological examination showed a parakeratotic column, the so-called ‘cornoid lamella (Figure 5). Irregu- lar arrangement of keratinocytes with pyknotic nuclei, in addition to perinuclear edema were noted in the epidermis underneath the parakeratotic column. No granular layer was found at the site of parakeratosis. A nonspecific perivas- cular lymphocytic infiltrate intermingled with melanophages was present in the upper dermis. The clinico-pathological features established the diagnosis of disseminated superficial porokeratosis. Discussion Porokeratosis is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. Five different forms can be distinguished, including the plaque type of Mibelli, disseminated superficial actinic porokeratosis (some lesions of this type are distributed mainly in areas not exposed to the sun or appear in patients on immunosuppres- Figure 1. A 69-year-old Japanese man presented with a three-year history of pigmented skin lesions in the inguinal regions. [Copyright: ©2013 Hayashi et al.] Figure 3. Dark brown macules of up to 20 mm in diameter were noted in the inguinal area with partial confluence in some areas. Some of the macules intermingled with interiorly atrophic whitish areas. [Copyright: ©2013 Hayashi et al.] Figure 5. Histopathological examination showed a cornoid lamella and irregular arrangement of keratinocytes underneath the paraker- atotic column. No granular layer was found at the site of parakera- tosis. A nonspecific perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate intermingled with melanophages was present in the upper dermis. [Copyright: ©2013 Hayashi et al.] Figure 4. Dermoscopy demonstrated central brown pigmentation with many blue-gray dots surrounded by a single hypopigmented band, namely “white track” (between black arrows) at the periphery. [Copyright: ©2013 Hayashi et al.] Figure 2. Light brown, smaller macules subsequently appeared on the trunk. [Copyright: ©2013 Hayashi et al.] Observation | Dermatol Pract Concept 2013;3(4):6 31 Conclusion Because genital or inguinal porokeratosis is very rare, though more common in Asians and often mimics extramammary Paget’s disease, Bowen’s disease or lichen planus, dermoscopic examination is useful when the “white track” structure is detected at the periphery of the macule. References 1. Johnson BL, Yan AC. Porokeratosis. In: Elder DE, Elenitsas R, Johnson BL, Murphy GF (eds.). Lever’s Histopathology of the Skin, 10th ed. Philadelphia: LWW, 2009:139-41. 2. Bunker CB, Neill SM. Male genital dermatology. In: Burns T, Breathnach S, Cox N, Griffiths C (eds.). Rook’s Textbook of Der- matology, 8th ed. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010:71.37. 3. Chen TJ, Chou YC, Chen CH, Kuo TT, Hong HS. Genital poro- keratosis: a series of 10 patients and review of the literature. Br J Dermatol. 2006:155(2);325-9. 4. Delfino M, Argenziano G, Nino M. Dermoscopy for the diagnosis of porokeratosis. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2004:18(2);194-5. 5. Zaballos P, Puig S, Malvehy J. Dermoscopy of disseminated super- ficial actinic porokeratosis. Arch Dermatol. 2004:140(11);1410. sants), linear porokeratosis, porokeratosis plantaris palmaris et disseminata and punctuate porokeratosis [1]. Genital porokeratosis is extremely rare, but classical lesions have been reported on the penis and scrotum [2,3]. Chen et al [3] reported 10 cases of genital porokeratosis in Asian patients and the lesions in three of their patients were in genital and adjacent areas, with one patient presenting with inguinal lesions. It seems that genital porokeratosis is more common in Asian populations [2]. The lesions in our patient appeared first in the inguinal area and subsequently spread to the trunk. Since the lesions on the trunk were relatively subtle compared to those in the inguinal area, the patient only complained of the latter lesions on the initial examination, thus the dif- ferential diagnosis included lichen planus linearis. However, dermoscopic examination demonstrated typical features characteristic of porokeratosis, namely a “white track” or “whitish-yellowish annular” structure [4,5]. As reported by Chen et al [3], genital porokeratosis is extremely rare and some of their cases were clinically indistinguishable from extramammary Paget’s disease, Bowen’s disease or lichen planus. Accordingly, dermoscopic examination is essential and of great help.