title: Laugier and Hunziker pigmentation: a lentiginous proliferation of melanocytes.
abstract: Macular pigmentation of Laugier and Hunziker is an acquired disorder involving lips, oral mucosa, acral surfaces, nail apparatus, or a combination of these in the absence of systemic disease, and is reported to show intraepidermal melanosis without melanocytosis. We present a 69-year-old white man with typical features of this disorder, involving lips and oral mucosa, first appearing 4 years before presentation. A pigmented macule on sun-exposed lip vermilion revealed increased numbers of slightly atypical melanocytes in a lentiginous epidermal pattern. A buccal mucosa pigmented macule and adjacent nonpigmented mucosa were studied using hematoxylin and eosin staining, and S-100 and L-3,4 dihydroxyphenylalanine histochemistry. The buccal mucosa macule revealed markedly increased numbers of dendritic, L-3,4 dihydroxyphenylalanine-reactive intraepithelial melanocytes. Further studies are warranted to determine if this pigmentation disorder represents a spectrum of histopathologic change or, in fact, should be renamed mucocutaneous lentiginosis of Laugier and Hunziker.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Rush Medical College, Rush-Presbyterian-St Luke's Medical Center, 1653 W Congress Parkway, 507 Kidston, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Roger T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: K A Mireille
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.forename: Arthur R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rhodes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D017495:Hyperpigmentation / Q000473:pathology*; D008047:Lip Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D008548:Melanosis / Q000473:pathology*; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology; D013577:Syndrome