title: Appearances in dermatopathology: the diagnostic and the deceptive.
abstract: Dermatopathology involves study of the microscopic morphology of skin sections. It mirrors pathophysiologic changes occurring at the microscopic level in the skin and its appendages. Sometimes, we come across certain morphologic features that bear a close resemblance to our physical world. These close resemblances are referred to as "appearances" in parlance to dermatopathology. Sometimes, these "appearances" are unique to a certain skin disorder and thus help us to clinch to a definitive diagnosis (e.g., "tadpole" appearance in syringoma). However, frequently, these appearances are encountered in many other skin conditions and can be therefore be misleading. In this paper, we attempt to enlist such "appearances" commonly found in the dermatopathologic literature and also enumerate their differential diagnoses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Topiwala National Medical College and BYL Nair Hospital, Mumbai, India.
authors.forename: Bhushan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Madke
authors.forename: Bhavana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Doshi
authors.forename: Uday
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Khopkar
authors.forename: Atul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dongre
mesh_terms: D003880:Dermatology / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000379:methods*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*