Dermatology: Practical and Conceptual


Image Letter | Dermatol Pract Concept. 2025;15(2):5281 1

Short Radial Lines Converging on a Common 
Periadnexal Circle Are Not Exclusive for Facial 
Lentiginous Melanoma on Sun-Damaged Skin

Paweł Pietkiewicz1,2

1 Centrum Medyczne Zwierzyniecka, Poznań, Poland

2 Unitelematica Leonardo Da Vinci, Zug, Switzerland

Citation: Pietkiewicz P. Short Radial Lines Converging on a Common Periadnexal Circle Are Not Exclusive for Facial Lentiginous 
Melanoma on Sun-Damage. Dermatol Pract Concept. 2025;15(2):5281. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5826/dpc.1502a5281

Accepted: January 23, 2024; Published: April 2025

Copyright: ©2025 Pietkiewicz et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial License (BY-NC-4.0), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/, which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, 
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

Funding: None.

Competing Interests: None.

Authorship: All authors have contributed significantly to this publication.

Corresponding Author: Paweł Pietkiewicz MD, PhD; Centrum Medyczne Zwierzyniecka, Zwierzyniecka 30/28, 60-814 Poznań, Poland, 
Tel: (+48)602133503. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7262-2456. E-mail: pietkiewicz.pp@gmail.com

Case Presentation

A hexagenerian woman presented with a superficial spread-

ing melanoma (SSM) of the right forearm (pT1a). Six short 

brown-to-tan radial lines converging on a common circle 

(periadnexal linear projections; PLP) were identified with 

dermatoscopy (Figure 1).

Teaching Point

PLPs have been recently reported to be a specific feature 

of facial lentiginous melanoma in situ developing on a 

sun-damaged skin (LM) [1]. They likely correlate to mela-

noma nests “bulging” from the follicular openings, and it has 

been suggested they constitute an intermediary stage in the 

progression model of LM [1]. To date, PLP have not been re-

ported in non-facial melanomas of subtypes other than LM. 

In our experience, similar to perifollicular (either complete, 

incomplete, concentric, or dotted) or perieccrine hyperpig-

mented circles [2], PLP can occur in early/thin slow-growing 

non-acral non-facial melanomas (superficial spreading and 

lentiginous) with retained adnexal structures (follicular or 

sweat gland duct openings) and indicate local in situ compo-

nent. These structures may be a general clue to early mela-

noma and may contribute to the diagnostic accuracy in early 

and diagnostically challenging lesions. These observations 

require further confirmation, preferably with a randomized 

cross-sectional prospective study.



2 Image Letter | Dermatol Pract Concept. 2025;15(2):5281

References

1. Navarrete-Dechent C, Jaimes N, Dusza SW, et al. Perifollic-

ular linear projections: A dermatoscopic criterion for the di-

agnosis of lentigo maligna on the face. J Am Acad Dermatol. 

2024 Jan;90(1):52-57. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2024;90(1):52–7. 

DOI:10.1016/j.jaad.2023.07.1036. PMID: 37634737.

2. Pietkiewicz P, Giedziun P, Idziak J, Todorovska V, Lewandowicz M,  

Lallas A. Diagnostic Accuracy of Hyperpigmented Microcir-

cles in Dermatoscopy of Non-Facial Non-Acral Melanomas:  

A Pilot Retrospective Study using a Public Image Database. 

Dermatology. 2023;239(6):976-987. DOI:10.1159/000533820. 

PMID: 37666232.

Figure 1. Contact polarized dermatoscopy of a superficial spreading melanoma of the right forearm in hexagenerian woman displaying at 

least (A-E) six structures comprised of short tan-to-brown radial lines converging on common circles. Note the chaotic arrangement of colors 

(brown, tan, gray), patterns (lines reticular, dots, structureless), and uneven demarcation (polygonal linear cut-off at 11’top left aspect, poorly 

defined at 2’-4’ top right aspect of the image).