Nevus: Or something else? Differential Diagnosis

Skin and subcutaneous (L00-L99).

Dermal melanocytic nevi (pigmented nevi).

  • Mongolian spot – indistinct gray-blue discoloration of the skin in the buttock/back area; regresses by puberty; usually seen in mongolians
  • Nevus coeruleus (blue nevus) – coarse blue-black nodules that appear mainly on the back of the hand or arm.
  • Naevus fusco-coeruleus – blurred flat blue-black pigmentation in the area of the face (naevus Ota; synonym: oculodermal melanocytosis)/shoulder (naevus Ito); possibly with hypertrichosis (increased body and facial hair; without a male distribution pattern); occurs in Mongolians and Japanese.

Epidermal melanocytic nevi – refers to marks characterized by a sharply demarcated brown patch.

  • Café-au-lait spot (nevus pigmentosus).
  • Ephelides (freckles)
  • Lentigines (lentigo simplex)
  • Melanosis naeviformis (Becker’s nevus) – extensive brown colored skin area, which occurs in combination with hypertrichosis (increased body and facial hair; without a male distribution pattern).
  • Nevus spilus – combination of café-au-lait spots (CALF) and small-spotted pigment cell nests.

Nevus cell nevus (NZN) – marks that pass through the following stages.

  • Junctional nevus – sharply demarcated spot/dot-shaped marks that are homogeneously brown(-black) in color.
  • Compound nevus – sharply demarcated, usually nodular brown(-black) marks, often with a fissured surface; hypertrichosis may be concomitant; usually form from junctional nevi
  • Dermal nevi – papular brown marks with hair trimming.

Special forms of nevus cell nevi

  • Benign juvenile melanoma (spindle cell nevus; Spitz tumor) – circumscribed benign nodular marks occurring in children/adolescents.
  • Dysplastic nevus (atypical nevus, active nevus) – acquired nevus cell nevus with outgrowths, irregular pigmentation/color changes, increase in size, signs of inflammation.
  • Halo nevus (Sutton nevus) – harmless marks characterized by a white halo.
  • Nevus pigmentosus et pilosus (giant pigmented nevus) – often appearing as bathing trunks nevus in the context of neurocutaneous melanosis.

Vascular nevi, hemangiomas.

  • Nevus flammeus (port-wine stain; nevus teleangiectaticus; planar hemangioma) – sharply demarcated light to blue-red spots.
    • Medial nevus flammeus – common on neck, forehead; often regress; newborns sometimes have a pale port-wine stain on neck, popularly known as “stork bite.”
    • Lateral nevus flammeus – often localized on the face; rarely regress; may occur as part of complex malformations
    • Nevus araneus (synonyms: Nevus stellatus; spider nevus, star nevus, or vascular spider or Eppinger’s star, spider nevus, spider nevi) – change occurring in children or in advanced liver disease, in which a central papule is surrounded by star-shaped venules.
    • Teleangictasia hereditaria haemorrhagica (Osler-Rendu disease) – dilatation of the end-stromal vessels caused by an autosomal dominant hereditary disorder
  • Hemangioma – pale to blackish-blue vascular growths that occur in early childhood or are congenital.
  • Granuloma pyogenicum (granuloma teleangiectaticum, botryomycoma) – benign spherical soft neoplasms that occur after an infected injury; differential diagnoses:
    • Angioma – benign vascular neoplasm.
    • Fibroma – benign growth of connective tissue.
    • Melanoma – neoplasm originating from pigment-producing tissue.

Epidermal nevi

  • Congenital, usually striated thickening of the epidermis.
  • Differential diagnoses: lichen ruber (nodular lichen); psoriasis (psoriasis).

Sebaceous nevi (nevus sebaceus).

  • Sharply circumscribed often spherical marks arranged in a cobblestone to papillomatous pattern; occurs more frequently in childhood/adolescence
  • Differential diagnoses: senile sebaceous gland hyperplasia, adenoma sebaceum (synonyms: nevus Pringle, adenoma sebaceum senile, sebaceous gland adenoma).

Other nevi

  • Apocrine/ecrine sweat gland nevi
  • Connective tissue nevi
  • Elastica nevi
  • Hair nevi
  • Comedone nevi
  • Nevus lipomatosus superficialis – it is a circumscribed fatty tissue nevus with development of fatty tissue lobules throughout the dermis (skin).