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Updated: Nov 12, 2025

A Robust Discovery Platform for the Identification of Novel Mediators of Melanoma Metastasis
Published on: March 8, 2022
Diagnosis of Melanonychia
Aurora Alessandrini1, Emi Dika1, Michela Starace1
1Department of Specialised Experimental and Diagnostic Medicine, Dermatology Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Via Massarenti 1, Bologna 40138, Italy.
Abstract:
Melanonychia has many causes and can involve one or several fingernails or toenails, and may occur at any age. Dermoscopy is used routinely in the evaluation of a pigmented nail. If pigmentation is caused by melanin produced by nail matrix, identify whether the pigmentation is caused by an activation or proliferation of nail melanocytes. When melanocytic proliferation is suspected, biopsy with histopathologic examination is the gold standard for diagnosis and is recommended when a longitudinal melanonychia occurs in an adult and is localized in a single digit, in the absence of local or systemic causes that may explain its onset.
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