A Case of Nevus Spilus with Vitiligo

Kim, Sung Sik; Park, Eun Joo; Kim, Kwang Ho; Kim, Kwang Joong

Abstract

We report a 25-year-old woman who developed depigmentation within a congenital nevus spilus on the right hand at the age of 15 years. Other vitiligo-like lesions apart from the nevus spilus developed on the right third finger and both feet at the age of 19 and 22, respectively. Histopathologic studies of nevus spilus revealed increased basal pigmentation from brownish patch and junctional activity and dermal aggregation of nevus cells from pigmented papules. Depigmented macule developed within a nevus spilus and revealed absence of melanin pigmentation at the basal layer of the epidermis and perivascular inflammatory infiltrates in the upper dermis. The mechanism of the development of the depigmentation within a congenital nevus spilus is uncertain. But inflammatory infiltrates of upper dermis in depigmented lesion suggest that an immunologic process, similar to the development of halo nevus, may be responsible.