Abstract
A 39-year-old female with a changing skin lesion visited the Primary Care clinic. Due to its changing appearance, the lesion was biopsied and found to be a seborrheic keratosis. Seborrheic keratoses (SK) are benign epidermal tumors that become increasingly common as people age. The lesions tend to be elevated, with well-demarcated borders, and have a waxy or verrucous appearance. SKs are usually asymptomatic; however, they may become pruritic and occasionally bleed due to trauma caused by friction. SKs do not require treatment; however, they may be removed by cryosurgery or electrodesiccation if they become symptomatic or cosmetically bothersome.
References
Phulari RG, Buddhdev K, Rathore R, Patel S. Seborrheic keratosis. J Oral Maxillofac Pathol. 2014;18(2):327–30.
Yeatman JM. The prevalence of seborrhoeic keratoses in an Australian population: does exposure to sunlight play a part in their frequency? Br J Dermatol. 1997;137(3):411–4.
Thomas VD, Snavely NR, Lee KK, Swanson NA. Chapter 118. Benign epithelial tumors, hamartomas, and hyperplasias. In: Goldsmith LA, Katz SI, Gilchrest BA, Paller AS, Leffell DJ, Wolff K, editors. Fitzpatrick’s dermatology in general medicine. 8th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2012. p. 1319–23.
Bedir R, Yurdakul C, Güçer H, Sehitoglu I. Basal cell carcinoma arising within seborrheic keratosis. J Clin Diagn Res. 2014;8(7):YD06–7.
Salerni G, Alonso C, Gorosito M, Fernández-Bussy R. Seborrheic keratosis-like melanoma. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015;72(1 Suppl):S53–5.
Tay YK, Tan SK. A study comparing the efficacy and risk of adverse events using two techniques of electrocautery for the treatment of seborrheic keratoses. Dermatol Surg. 2003;39(5):810–3.
Herron MD, Bowen AR, Krueger GG. Seborrheic keratoses: a study comparing the standard cryosurgery with topical calcipotriene, topical tazarotene, and topical imiquimod. Int J Dermatol. 2004;43(4):300–2.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Reich, D., Psomadakis, C.E., Buka, B. (2017). Seborrheic Keratosis. In: Top 50 Dermatology Case Studies for Primary Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18627-6_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18627-6_26
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-18626-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-18627-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)