Early 'invasive' malignant melanoma of the glans penis and the male urethra. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A 40-year-old male with early 'invasive' malignant melanoma of the glans penis and meatus urethrae externus is presented. Early stages of primary melanoma of the glans penis and the male urethra are distinctly rare and are often clinically indistinguishable from penile lentigo, melanosis and melanocytic nevus on the genitalia. In order to avoid large and useless surgery on such a delicate location we propose a punch biopsy with subsequent histological examination prior to definitive surgical procedure. Whereas malignant melanoma of the penis with a thick Breslow index is treated with extended surgical management, only local excision of the tumor without groin dissection was performed in our patient.