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Dermatology (Expert Forum)
Pigmented Blotch on Upper Back
Answered by
Alan Rockoff, MD - dermatology, Child Skin Problems
The Rockoff Dermatology Center
Brookline - MA
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Pigmented Blotch on Upper Back
by JLAMB, Apr 25, 2007 12:00AM
I am a 38 year old Caucasian male with no personal or family history of skin cancer. I have dark brown hair and eyes with less than 100 moles on my body. I have been going for semi-annual skin checks ever since a single 2mm dysplastic nevus was removed from the back of my thigh in 2003. My next check is in one month. All checks have been clean.
About two months ago, I noticed a flat, uniformly light-gray-brown blotch on my back. It is rather faint, large (over 2 inches in diameter), and very uneven. It looks like the remnants of a bruise or rash. It appeared all at once, and I can correlate its emergence roughly with lifting very heavy weights while on my back at the gym, as the area had small cuts when I first noticed it. The cuts healed, but the blotch remains. It is painless and has itched only twice, under heavy perspiration.
My family doctor noticed that it may have looked scaly under magnification, and rather uncertainly diagnosed tinea versicolor. I have been using a prescription cream (econozale?) for four days with no improvement.
Question: Could you possibly assuage my fears of lentigo, or any other, melanoma for the coming month while I await my skin check? I'm a mess with chronic, acute health anxiety. Thank you.
About two months ago, I noticed a flat, uniformly light-gray-brown blotch on my back. It is rather faint, large (over 2 inches in diameter), and very uneven. It looks like the remnants of a bruise or rash. It appeared all at once, and I can correlate its emergence roughly with lifting very heavy weights while on my back at the gym, as the area had small cuts when I first noticed it. The cuts healed, but the blotch remains. It is painless and has itched only twice, under heavy perspiration.
My family doctor noticed that it may have looked scaly under magnification, and rather uncertainly diagnosed tinea versicolor. I have been using a prescription cream (econozale?) for four days with no improvement.
Question: Could you possibly assuage my fears of lentigo, or any other, melanoma for the coming month while I await my skin check? I'm a mess with chronic, acute health anxiety. Thank you.
Doctor's Answer
by Alan Rockoff, MD, Apr 27, 2007 12:00AM
, Apr 27, 2007 12:00AM
I don't think you need to worry at all. You're getting checked often enough, and this spot sounds like minor trauma or minor tinea versicolor, but anyhow something minor. Melanomas don't develop in such a short time....
Take care.
Dr. Rockoff
Take care.
Dr. Rockoff
