Dermatoscopy of genital warts.

BACKGROUND

Genital warts may mimic a variety of conditions, thus complicating their diagnosis and treatment. The recognition of early flat lesions presents a diagnostic challenge.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to describe the dermatoscopic features of genital warts, unveiling the possibility of their diagnosis by dermatoscopy.

METHODS

Dermatoscopic patterns of 61 genital warts from 48 consecutively enrolled male patients were identified with their frequencies being used as main outcome measures.

RESULTS

The lesions were examined dermatoscopically and further classified according to their dermatoscopic pattern. The most frequent finding was an unspecific pattern, which was found in 15/61 (24.6%) lesions; a fingerlike pattern was observed in 7 (11.5%), a mosaic pattern in 6 (9.8%), and a knoblike pattern in 3 (4.9%) cases. In almost half of the lesions, pattern combinations were seen, of which a fingerlike/knoblike pattern was the most common, observed in 11/61 (18.0%) cases. Among the vascular features, glomerular, hairpin/dotted, and glomerular/dotted vessels were the most frequent finding seen in 22 (36.0%), 15 (24.6%), and 10 (16.4%) of the 61 cases, respectively. In 10 (16.4%) lesions no vessels were detected. Hairpin vessels were more often seen in fingerlike (χ(2) = 39.31, P = .000) and glomerular/dotted vessels in knoblike/mosaic (χ(2) = 9.97, P = .008) pattern zones; vessels were frequently missing in unspecified (χ(2) = 8.54, P = .014) areas.

LIMITATIONS: Only male patients were examined.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a correlation between dermatoscopic patterns and vascular features reflecting the life stages of genital warts; dermatoscopy may be useful in the diagnosis of early-stage lesions.