title: Dispelling the myth of the "benign hair sign" for melanoma.
abstract: The vast majority of melanocytic lesions with hair, such as congenital melanocytic nevi, are benign. However, there is a notion that the presence of one or more hairs in a melanocytic lesion is confirmatory for the benign nature of the lesion. To dispel this notion, we present 3 examples of melanocytic lesions that showed terminal hairs on clinical and dermoscopic evaluation, but in which the final diagnosis was invasive melanoma. Thus, integrating all clinical and dermoscopic findings, rather than relying on a single criterion for the lesion at hand should guide clinicians to the correct diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York 10022, USA.
authors.forename: Alon
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scope
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tabanelli
authors.forename: Klaus J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Busam
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rabinovitz
authors.forename: Ralph P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Ashfaq A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Marghoob
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D046169:Dermoscopy; D006197:Hair / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000473:pathology*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*