lentigo

A benign, acquired brown macule resembling a freckle except that the border is usually regular and microscopic elongation of rete ridges is present, with increased melanocytes and melanin pigment in the basal cell layer. SEE ALSO: junction nevus. SYN: l. simplex. [L. fr. lens (lent-), a lentil]

- l. maligna a brown or black mottled, irregularly outlined, slowly enlarging lesion resembling a l. in which there are increased numbers of scattered atypical melanocytes in the epidermis, usually occurring on the face of older persons; after many years the dermis may be invaded and the lesion is then termed l. maligna melanoma. SYN: Hutchinson freckle, melanotic freckle.

- senile l. a variably pigmented benign l. occurring on exposed skin of older white persons. SYN: liver spot, solar l..

- l. simplex SYN: l..

- solar l. SYN: senile l..

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len·ti·go len-'tī-(.)gō, -'tē- n, pl len·tig·i·nes len-'tij-ə-.nēz

1) a small melanotic spot in the skin in which the formation of pigment is unrelated to exposure to sunlight and which is potentially malignant esp NEVUS compare FRECKLE

2) FRECKLE

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n. (pl. lentigines)

a flat dark brown spot found mainly in the elderly on skin exposed to light. Lentigines have increased numbers of melanocyte in the basal layer of the epidermis (freckles, by contrast, do not show an increase in these cells). In lentigo maligna (or Hutchinson's lentigo), which occurs on the cheeks of the elderly, the spot is larger than 2 cm in diameter and has variable pigmentation; it is an early malignant melanoma that has not spread deeply.

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len·ti·go (len-tiґgo) pl. lentigґines [L. “freckle”] a small, flat, tan to dark brown or black, macular melanosis on the skin; it resembles a freckle clinically but is histologically distinct because it contains an increased number of normal-appearing melanocytes along the dermal-epidermal junction. Lentigines, unlike freckles, do not darken on exposure to sunlight. Called also l. simplex.