Red eczematous melanoma: a case report with review of the literature

Eczematous melanoma is a rare form of amelanotic melanoma appearing clinically as an erythematous macula or plaque, and dermoscopically characterized by the reduction or absence of pigmented network, resulting difficult for an early suspicion and detection. We describe a case of an amelanotic melanoma presented as a reddish, asymptomatic, non-pigmented scaly plaque localized on the left shoulder of a 78-year-old male patient. Histological examination revealed an ulcerated superficial spreading melanoma (Breslow thickness 0.85 mm and Clark level III), associated with epidermal spongiosis and lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate. A review of the clinical, histological and dermoscopic features of the other 12 published similar cases revealed that eczematous amelanotic superficial spreading melanoma is quite rare, equally distributed in both sexes, more frequent in the elderly, mostly localized at the extremities and usually diagnosed at an advanced stage.