Amelanotic melanoma of the nail unit: Clinical and dermoscopic features of the nail plate changes

Melanoma is a heterogeneous cancer consisting of different subsets. Nail melanoma (NM) represents a rare subtype, particularly in Caucasians. Its etiology, pathogenesis, and natural history remain poorly understood. In most cases, NM presents as a pigmented longitudinal band involving initially the nail plate and/or the nail folds. The clinical and dermoscopic features of these cases have been described in various series and new diagnostic algorithms have been proposed.1-4 On the other hand, since the paucity of cases, very few are the descriptions for the amelanotic variant of NM. We describe herein the clinical and dermoscopic features of a series of amelanotic cases of NM focusing on the evaluation of nail plate changes.