Dermoscopy: a useful tool for the diagnosis of angiokeratoma

Angiokeratoma is a rare vascular malformation of the upper dermis that presents clinically as deep red to blue-black in color and tends to take a diverse configuration without self-limiting. Here, we reported dermoscopic findings by two cases of angiokeratoma; solitary angiokeratoma and angiokeratoma circumscriptum. A 24-year-old male presented with a 2-months history of 5 mm sized black colored papule on the right buttock. A dermoscopic pattern characterized by red and dark lacunae, whitish veil covered with scale. A 26-year-old woman presented with multiple, 2~10 mm, dark colored papules on the anterior neck with zosteriform fashion since childhood. A dermoscopic pattern presented by red lacunae intermingled with whitish veil. As a previous report, our two cases was the most common dermoscopic pattern of angiokeratoma; red lacunae and whitish veil. Angiokeratoma is often diagnosed as melanocytic nevi, Spitz nevi, malignant melanomas, pigmented basal cell carcinomas, seborrheic keratoses, dermatofibromas and other vascular lesions including hemangiomas and pyogenic granulomas. However, in the dermoscopic view, these above lesions hardly show red lacunae with whitish veils. Therefore, the dermscopic view is a useful differential method of angiokeratoma.