Ephelides are more related to pigmentary constitutional host factors than solar lentigines

Ephelides and solar lentigines are benign pigmented spots, which are curren tly associated with an increased risk of skin cancer. These two pigmented s pots are known to be discriminated by their clinical, histological, and ele ctron microscopic characteristics, even though occasional misclassification can occur because of their similarity. It has also been questioned whether these spots are not one and the same. In this study, we have attempted to differentiate between these two pigmented spots with the use of a standardi zed protocol for clinical examinations on 272 healthy volunteers, paying pa rticular consideration to their pigmentary and constitutional host factors. We found that solar lentigines 1) are more prevalent than ephelides, 2) in crease in prevalence and number with higher age, and 3) are most-prevalent on the trunk and occur more frequently in males than in females. A trend is also observed whereby ephelides 1) loose their prevalence with age, 2) bec ome equally distributed on the face, arms, and trunk, and 3) occur more fre quently in females. An intimate association of ephelides, but not solar len tigines, has been found with hair color and skin type. All of these finding s are in agreement with most of those reported in the literature, supportin g the view that ephelides and solar lentigines are different types of pigme nted lesions.