Erratum in J Am Acad Dermatol. 2012 May;66(5):829. Soyer, Peter [corrected to Soyer, H Peter].

BACKGROUND:

Genital warts may mimic a variety of conditions, thus complicating their diagnosis and treatment. The recognition of early flat lesions presents a diagnostic challenge.

OBJECTIVE:

We sought to describe the dermatoscopic features of genital warts, unveiling the possibility of their diagnosis by dermatoscopy.

METHODS:

Dermatoscopic patterns of 61 genital warts from 48 consecutively enrolled male patients were identified with their frequencies being used as main outcome measures.

RESULTS:

The lesions were examined dermatoscopically and further classified according to their dermatoscopic pattern. The most frequent finding was an unspecific pattern, which was found in 15/61 (24.6%) lesions; a fingerlike pattern was observed in 7 (11.5%), a mosaic pattern in 6 (9.8%), and a knoblike pattern in 3 (4.9%) cases. In almost half of the lesions, pattern combinations were seen, of which a fingerlike/knoblike pattern was the most common, observed in 11/61 (18.0%) cases. Among the vascular features, glomerular, hairpin/dotted, and glomerular/dotted vessels were the most frequent finding seen in 22 (36.0%), 15 (24.6%), and 10 (16.4%) of the 61 cases, respectively. In 10 (16.4%) lesions no vessels were detected. Hairpin vessels were more often seen in fingerlike (χ(2) = 39.31, P = .000) and glomerular/dotted vessels in knoblike/mosaic (χ(2) = 9.97, P = .008) pattern zones; vessels were frequently missing in unspecified (χ(2) = 8.54, P = .014) areas.

LIMITATIONS:

Only male patients were examined.

CONCLUSIONS:

There is a correlation between dermatoscopic patterns and vascular features reflecting the life stages of genital warts; dermatoscopy may be useful in the diagnosis of early-stage lesions.

J Am Acad Dermatol. 2011; 64(5): 859-864                                                             Copyright © 2010 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.