The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Melanosis

the intensified formation and deposit in organs and tissues of a dark brown or black pigment of the melanin group (normally present in the skin, retina, and meninges).

A distinction is made between congenital melanosis and acquired melanosis. The former includes congenital melanosis of the skin (melanoderma), manifested by freckles or pigmented birthmarks. Acquired melanosis frequently develops as a result of a change in endocrine function (adrenal, pituitary, or gonadal). The pigmentation may be diffuse (for example, in Addison’s disease) or circumscribed (for example, during pregnancy, on the face and around the nipples). The condition may also be caused by systemic poisoning by hydrocarbons (toxic melanoderma) or by physical, mechanical, or chemical irritation (light, heat, the distillate products of coal).

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References in periodicals archive

Keywords: Periorbital melanosis, pigmentary demarcation lines, Wood's lamp examination.

Association of periorbital melanosis with pigmentary demarcation line-F

Oral melanin pigmentation in 467 Thai and Malaysian people with special emphasis on smoker's melanosis. Journal of oral pathology and medicine 2006;20(1):8-12.

Pigmentation

Participants with melanosis only were compared with those with both melanosis and hyperkeratosis, controlling for the same above-mentioned variables.

Association between arsenic exposure from drinking water and plasma levels of soluble cell adhesion molecules

Skin afflictions may include erythema, eczema, pigmentation (arsenic melanosis), diffuse alopecia, keratosis (especially of palms and soles), scaling and desquamation, brittle nails, white lines or bands in the nails (Mees lines), and localized subcutaneous edema.

Case report: potential arsenic toxicosis secondary to herbal kelp supplement

Another ocular lesion, primary acquired melanosis, can have anything from what looks like melanoma in situ to something as innocuous as hyperpigmentation.

Extracutaneous melanoma: look carefully near eyes, vulva

it was counted as a mass/lesion case (n=29) + Although encountered, hyperplastic polyps, lipomas, and other miscellaneous findings such as melanosis coli ere not tabulated as findings with a substantial clinical significance.

Colonoscopy by a family physician: a 9-year experience of 1048 procedures

The ICD-O classification includes further morphological codes, such as balloon cell M, regressing M, amelanotic M, M in junctional nevus, M in precancerous melanosis, desmoplastic M, neurotropic M, mucosal lentiginous M, M in giant pigmented nevus/congenital melanocytic nevus, mixed epithelioid and spindle cell M, epithelioid cell M, spindle cell M (not otherwise specified), spindle cell M (type A), spindle cell M (type B), and malignant blue nevus (3).

A Histogenetic View of the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology Melanomas

Factors contributing to the development of mucosal melanoma remain largely undefined, although an association with melanosis is possible.

Data Set for the Reporting of Mucosal Melanomas of the Head and Neck: Explanations and Recommendations of the Guidelines From the International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting

Prostatic melanosis is a lesion that contains melanocytic granules in both prostatic stroma and epithelium (1).

Prostatic Melanosis: Case Report/Prostatik Melanozis: Olgu Sunumu

Diseased fish showed signs of lethargy, melanosis, and exophthalmia.

Streptococcus agalactiae Sequence Type 283 in Farmed Fish, Brazil