Also known as: ashy dermatosis

Clinical Features:

• Considered by some to be a macular variant of lichen planus, based on the fact that the diseases sometimes coexist, and both have the same immunofluorescence findings
• Lesions are often widespread, although there is a predilection for the trunk.
• Presents as slowly progressive ash-colored to brown macular areas of hyperpigmentation
• Reported associations with paraphenylenediamine and HIV
• Lichen planus pigmentosus is considered by some to represent the same disease. 

Histologic Features:

• Lichenoid lymphocytic infiltrate, much more sparse than in lichen planus, and may extend deeper into the dermis than in lichen planus
• Prominent melanin incontinence, which may be the only change in older lesions
• Basal vacuolar change
• Occasional Civatte bodies
• Immunofluorescence, as in lichen planus, shows IgM, IgG and complement deposition on dermal colloid bodies.

Cases associated with this book:

Erythema dyschromicum perstans
Author: Stephen Lyle, M.D., Ph.D.

Conference: DermatopathologyConsultations.com Teaching Collection