There aren’t many thorough investigations on the clinical characteristics and development of pediatric longitudinal melanonychia (LM). For a study, researchers sought to determine pediatric LM’s clinical characteristics and development.
The study was a retrospective cohort of young patients with LM (≤18 years). In the study, 381 children with 703 LM lesions were investigated. The most typical fingernail lesions were single, thin, and uniformly colored. The findings showed that solitary, left-sided, and homogeneously pigmented lesions were more likely to regress, with the percentage of LM lesions that do so falling to 3%, 5%, and 10%, respectively, within 3, 4.5, and 9.5 years of commencement. Complete regression was not linked to the onset age, sex, finger/toe location, Hutchinson’s sign, or nail dystrophy. Most patients showed no difference in color or width between the first and last visits during follow-up, while there were few instances of early darkening/widening before stabilizing or early lightening/narrowing. Complete regression was linked to the lightning of pigmentation, although the change in width was not.
The study’s findings indicated that doctors should monitor pediatric LM patients without treatment for a number of years, even if lesions enlarge or get darker. In addition, lesions that are single, left-sided, and uniformly pigmented have a greater chance of regressing.
Reference: jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(22)00551-5/fulltext
