title: A histological and electronmicroscopic study of intracorneal melanin in benign and malignant melanocytic lesions.
abstract: Intracorneal melanin is a feature quite frequently encountered in a range of melanocytic lesions, yet has rarely been described in the literature. We examined a variety of melanocytic lesions with increasing degrees of melanocytic atypia for this feature. The distribution and amount of intracorneal melanin is described and it was shown to be entirely within keratinocytes. In general, the amount of intracorneal melanin was related to increasing melanocytic atypia and was typically distributed in a disorderly fashion in malignant lesions.
authors.affiliation: Area Department of Pathology, Royal Devon Hospital, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: R O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Allibone
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005134:Eye Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D015603:Keratinocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008543:Melanins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008545:Melanoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D009508:Nevus, Pigmented / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins