AMELANOTIC METASTATIC MELANOMA IN A PATIENT WITH OCULOCUTANEOUS ALBINISM

Melanomas are rare in patients who have albinism, compared with the fr equent occurrence of squamous cell carcinomas and basal cell carcinoma s. This report describes amelanotic metastatic melanoma in a 58-year-o ld Japanese man who had tyrosinase-positive oculocutaneous albinism. A prolonged bleeding time, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, and Gilbert syndrome were also present. Superficial spreading melanoma wit h evidence of spontaneous regression on his right forearm was suspecte d as a possible primary site. Twenty-two cases of melanomas in persons who have albinism have been reported.