Abstract:

Huang Jun, Xu Ai′e Department of Dermatology, Third People′s Hospital of Hangzhou, Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 310009, China Corresponding author: Xu Ai′e, Email: xuaiehz@msn.com 【Abstract】 Objective To investigate the morphology and quantity of melanin and blood vessels in chloasma lesions by using reflectance confocal microscopy （RCM） and dermoscopy, and to explore the relationship of melanin and blood vessels with lesion color. Methods RCM was used to evaluate the quantity and distribution of melanin in lesions of 135 patients with chloasma, and to observe the morphology of melanin and dendritic melanocytes in 54 of the 135 patients, and dermoscopy was performed to assess the quantity and morphology of blood vessels in lesions of the 54 patients. Statistical analysis was carried out by Spearman correlation analysis to assess the relationship of melanin and blood vessels with lesion color. Results Increased quantity of melanin was observed in both the epidermal layer and dermo?epidermal junction in all the 135 patients, and in only the superficial dermis in 36 （27%） patients. No patients showed increased quantity of melanin in only the dermis without epidermal involvement. Among the 54 patients, there was a positive correlation between the quantity score and morphology score of melanin （r = 0.73, P < 0.001）, between the quantity score and morphology score of blood vessels （r = 0.87, P < 0.001）, as well as between the total melanin score and total blood vessel score （r = 0.554, P < 0.001）. Lesion color was positively correlated with the quantity and morphology of melanin （r = 0.51, 0.39, respectively, both P < 0.05） and blood vessels （r = 0.46, 0.44, respectively, both P < 0.05）. Conclusions RCM and dermoscopy can be used to evaluate melanin and blood vessels in chloasma lesions. There is a positive correlation between the quantity and morphology of melanin and between those of blood vessels in chloasma lesions, and lesion color is positively correlated with the quantity and morphology of melanin and blood vessels.