melanotic macule


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melanotic macule

A small, brown to black lesion of the oral mucosa that is usually less than 1 cm in diameter, solitary, and asymptomatic. In most instances, this type of macule is benign and requires no therapy. It can, however, be due to melanoma, which requires immediate, vigorous therapy. When it is benign, it may be due to Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, physiologic pigmentation, Addison's disease, or healing of traumatic lesions; or it may be secondary to a variety of medications.
See also: macule
Medical Dictionary, © 2009 Farlex and Partners
References in periodicals archive ?
Amalgam tattoos are twice as common as melanotic macules and ten times as common as oral nevi.
Pigmentation
proposed that thickness of the tumour, cervical lymph node metastasis, presence or absence of ulceration and the anatomic sites are all independent risk factors.[13] Differential diagnosis includes physiologic pigmentation, nevi, oral melanotic macules, Kaposi's sarcoma, oral melanoacanthoma and amalgam tattoos.
Malignant melanoma of the oral cavity
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