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Updated: May 31, 2026

Spatial and Temporal Control of Murine Melanoma Initiation from Mutant Melanocyte Stem Cells
Published on: June 7, 2019
Spontaneous regression of a congenital melanocytic nevus
Amiya Kumar Nath1, Devinder Mohan Thappa, Nachiappa Ganesh Rajesh
1Department of Dermatology and STD, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India.
Congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN) may rarely regress which may also be associated with a halo or vitiligo. We describe a 10-year-old girl who presented with CMN on the left leg since birth, which recently started to regress spontaneously with associated depigmentation in the lesion and at a distant site. Dermoscopy performed at different sites of the regressing lesion demonstrated loss of epidermal pigments first followed by loss of dermal pigments. Histopathology and Masson-Fontana stain demonstrated lymphocytic infiltration and loss of pigment production in the regressing area. Immunohistochemistry staining (S100 and HMB-45), however, showed that nevus cells were present in the regressing areas.
Congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN) may rarely regress which may also be associated with a halo or vitiligo. We describe a 10-year-old girl who presented with CMN on the left leg since birth, which recently started to regress spontaneously with associated depigmentation in the lesion and at a distant site. Dermoscopy performed at different sites of the regressing lesion demonstrated loss of epidermal pigments first followed by loss of dermal pigments. Histopathology and Masson-Fontana stain demonstrated lymphocytic infiltration and loss of pigment production in the regressing area. Immunohistochemistry staining (S100 and HMB-45), however, showed that nevus cells were present in the regressing areas.
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