IDIOPATHIC ERUPTIVE MACULAR PIGMENTATION - REPORT OF 5 PATIENTS

We report the occurrence of idiopathic eruptive macular pigmentation i n four children and one adolescent, This condition appears to be a dis tinct clinicopathologic and histologic entity, It is characterized by asymptomatic, pigmented macules involving the neck, trunk, and proxima l limbs. All patients or their families denied the patients' having ta ken any drug before the eruption, In all of the patients the first sig n was a pigmented spot without preceding erythematous, papular, or hyp opigmented lesions, Histologic study showed enhanced epidermal basal l ayer pigmentation with pigmentary incontinence, a mild perivascular ly mphohistiocytic infiltrate, and many melanophages in the papillary der mis, Electron microscopy showed an increased number of melanosomes in basal and suprabasal keratinocytes as well as clustered melanosomes in dermal melanophages, Treatment of this asymptomatic condition is unne cessary because spontaneous resolution of the lesions is to be expecte d within several months to a few years.