Prurigo pigmentosa: a misdiagnosed dermatitis in Sicily

Prurigo pigmentosa is a papular pruriginous eruption that leaves a marble-like pigmentation. The majority of cases have been found in Japan. Three new female. Sicilian patients with prurigo pigmentosa were studied. All of them had previously been diagnosed as having different types of dermatitis. The administration of minocycline, at a dosage of 100 mg/day for 1 month, induced the disappearance of the papular eruption and pruritus in two patients, with an improvement of the gross reticular pigmentation. The third showed no modifications of the clinical picture after 2 months of minocycline treatment, but her condition significantly improved after 1 month of treatment with diaminodiphenylsulfone, 100 mg/day. These observations allow us to suggest that prurigo pigmentosa might be relatively frequent but misdiagnosed in the Sicilian population.