Darkening patches on the skin can result in great distress for the patient. However, definitive diagnosis between the many possible causes and effective treatment can be very hard for the medical practitioner to achieve. This is the first major professional reference with systematic coverage of diagnosis and the various treatment options, and it will be an indispensable clinical reference.

Dimitris Rigopoulos, MD, PhD

Professor of Dermatology-Venereology

Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Alexander Katoulis, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Dermatology-Venereology

Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

CONTENTS

I Histology, Physiology, and Pathophysiology of Skin Pigmentation

1 The color of the skin
Rashmi Sarkar

2 The melanocyte and melanogenesis
Dimitrios Xekardakis, Sabine Krueger-Krasagakis, and Konstantinos Krasagakis

3 Melanin
M. Badawy Abdel-Naser, Sabine Krueger-Krasagakis, and
Konstantinos Krasagakis

4 Pathophysiology of hyperpigmentation
Shalini B. Reddy and Neelam Vashi

II Disorders of Hyperpigmentation

5 Melasma
Clio Dessinioti and Andreas Katsambas

6 Erythema dyschromicum perstans
Vassiliki Tzanetakou and Electra Nicolaidou

7 Lichen planus pigmentosus
Ffstratios Vakirlis and Dimitrios Ioannides

8 Primary localized cutaneous amyloidosis
Elena Sotiriou

9 Mastocytosis
Michael P Makris

10 Pityriasis versicolor
Rashmi Sarkar and Vanya Narayan

11 Atrophoderma of Pasini-Pierini
Elizabeth Lazaridou

12 Poikilderma of Civette

Alexander C Katoulis and Nikolaos G. Stavrianeas

13 Pigmented non melanocytic skin lesions
Elvira Moscarella, Simonetta Piana, Caterina Longo, and Giuseppe Argenziano

14 Drug-induced hyperpigmentation
Raimonds Karls

15 Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation
Torello Lotti, Tommaso Tanini, Maja Kovacevic, and Serena Gianfaldoni

16 Linear hyperpigmentation
Chee Leok Goh

17 Flagellate hyperpigmentation
Clarissa Prieto Herman Reinehr, Juliano Peruzzo, and Tania Cestari

18 Reticular hyperpigmentation
Alexander C Katsoulis and Efthymia Sourra

19 Genodermatoses
Aikaterini Patsatsi

III Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis

20 Clinical examination
Clarissa Prieto Herman Reinehr, Juliano Peruzzo, and Tania Cestari

21 Wood's Lamp
Juliano Peruzzo, Clarissa Prieto Herman Reinehr, and Tania Cestari

22 Dermoscopy
Teresa Deinlein and Iris Zalaudek

23 Histopathology
Almut Böer-Auer

24 Reflectance confocal microscopy

Caterina Longo, Maurizio Greco, Silvana Ciardo, and Giovanni Pellacani

25 Spectrophotometry
Riccardo Pampena

26 Diagnostic algorithms
Stamatis Gregoriou

27 Differential diagnosis of circumscribed and diffuse hyperpigmentation
Maria Kyriazopoulou and Efstathios Rallis

IV Treatment

28 Cosmetic camouflage for pigmentation issues
Zoe Diana Draelos

29 Sunscreens
Pauline Lecerf

30 Medical therapy

Dimitrios Rigopoulos, Alexander C Katoulis, Efthymia Sourra, and Antigone Alevizou

31 Chemical peels
Myrto Trakatelli, Kostantinos Kalokasidis, and Paola Pasquali