title: Clinical profile and triggering factors for acquired, bilateral nevus of Ota-like macules.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acquired, bilateral nevus of Ota-like macules (ABNOM) is one of the most common dermal melanocytoses. Although there are some literatures on ABNOM, its clinical features and etiopathogenetic factors have not been fully understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and characteristics of ABNOM among the Chinese patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was carried out using the clinical examination and a questionnaire on 3212 first-time outpatients in our dermatology department, and 102 cases of ABNOM were subsequently enrolled.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The outpatient prevalence of ABNOM was 3.18%, and the age of the onset was 27.2 years on average. They all presented as speckled macules on the face alone or coexisted with patchy lesions (17.7%) or a band-like pigmentation (1.0%). Unprecedentedly, we found the zygomatic arch, the infraorbital, the cheek and the parotid region can be involved, and 52.0% cases had sclera pigmentation. ABNOM commonly coexisted with the pigmented fungiform papillae of the tongue, the melasma, the acne, prementstrual syndrome (female) and breast cystic hyperplasia (female) with the rates of 33.3%, 20.6%, 26.5%, 47.0% and 43.0% separately. Triggering factors' investigation disclosed screen irradiation (47.1%), pregnancy (32.0%), cosmetics (29.4%), sensitive skin (22.6%), and positive family histories (21.6%) were highly related.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study confirms that ABNOM is a relatively common disorder among adult Chinese's outpatients. It is commonly distributed over the malar, lateral forehead and temple's areas. The sclera pigmentation is another common finding that is overlooked in previous research. ABNOM is concomitant with melasma and some other disorders. Excessive sun exposure, hormonal disturbances and hereditary susceptibility are the main potential triggering factors of ABNOM.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine , Nanjing , China and.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: b Department of Dermatology , Jiangsu Second Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine , Nanjing , China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine , Nanjing , China and.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Dermatology , Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine , Nanjing , China and.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009507:Nevus of Ota / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bilateral nevus of Ota-like macules; Hori nevus; hereditary susceptibility; pigmentary; ultraviolet