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[Pseudomelanoma following laser treatment or laser-treated melanoma?]
Almut Böer1, Manfred Wolter, Roland Kaufmann
1Zentrum der Dermatologie und Venerologie, Klinikum der J. W. Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main. boer@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Background:
The increasing use of lasers for the removal of pigmented skin lesions has led to a growing risk of erroneously treated malignant melanocytic tumours.
Patients And Methods:
In two patients, both of whom developed a melanoma, the lesions were initially misdiagnosed clinically as a benign naevus and treated with laser vaporisation.
Results:
On recurrence of the tumours, the diagnosis of melanoma was finally established by histological examination of the excised tumours in which differentiation from pseudomelanoma remained difficult.
Conclusions:
In such cases of initially misdiagnosed melanomas, laser removal not only complicates and delays the correct diagnosis but might also worsen the prognosis after recurrence of an incompletely removed tumour.
