Dermoscopic assessment of melasma at a tertiary care centre in South India: A cross sectional study 

• Author Details:   
• Pooja Senthil
• Navakumar Manickam ^*
• Dhivya Palaniappan
• Seethalakshmi Ganga Vellaisamy
• Kannan Gopalan

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Introduction: Melasma also referred to as chloasma or the mask of pregnancy is characterized by symmetrical brownish or brownish black macules and patches. Dermoscopy is increasingly used for the diagnosis of pigmentary disorders like melasma. The colour of the melanin in dermoscopy depends on quantity or density and location of the pigment which helps in classifying the condition.

Aim: To assess the dermoscopic features in different types of melasma.

Materials and Methods: This was a year-long cross-sectional study conducted among 100 patients with melasma. All dermoscopic findings were studied using handheld pocket dermoscope (Dermlite DL4 3GEN).

Results: The mean age of study population was 44.12± 8.1 years. In our study, 95% were women and 5 % were men. Centrofacial melasma (51%) was the most common morphological pattern observed, followed by malar (44%) and mandibular (5%). Epidermal type of melasma was commonly found to be associated with Fitzpatrick skin type IV (63.3%). On dermoscopic evaluation, 59% had epidermal melasma, followed by 35% with dermal melasma, and 6% had mixed pattern. The colour of the lesion noted on dermoscopy was dark brown (51%) followed by light brown (47%) and blue (2%). Dermoscopy showed majority of the patients having reticuloglobular pattern(68%), followed by perifollicular brownblack globules (57%), unpatterned patchy brownblack pigment (32%), granular(33%), and telangiectasia (22%). Telangiectasia was most commonly seen in centrofacial type.

Conclusion: Dermoscopy can be a valuable tool in differentiating melasma from other facial melanoses. Dermoscopy also aid in classifying the melasma subtypes, which further helps in deciding the appropriate treatment for patients.