What is a "lentigo maligna melanoma"?

What is a "lentigo maligna melanoma"?

There are multiple different types of malignant melanoma that we distinguish both in their clinical presentation as well as how they look under the microscope. One of these is an entity called lentigo maligna melanoma. This is also known as the malignant freckle. The important part of a lentigo maligna is that they grow horizontally for a long period of time meaning they get bigger in diameter for a long period of time. Their invasiveness only comes after potentially years of growth. Although they are significant, as they grow horizontally they are not a biological threat to the patient. So, we have a long time to recognize their presence and therefore, ample opportunity to remove them before they become aggressive and have any chance of metastasis. The lentigo malignas occur primarily in the elderly and almost always on heavily sun-exposed areas such as the back of the hands, the arms and the scalp.