On the limited value of fine-needle aspiration for the diagnosis of benign melanocytic proliferations of the skin.

This a retrospective study of 39 patients with pigmented cutaneous lesions with a subsequent histologic diagnosis of melanocytic neoplasia. The most important cytologic features seen in the fine-needle aspirates were assessed in the 26 cases deemed satisfactory for evaluation. Though cytology, along with essential clinical data, could enable a general diagnosis of melanocytic lesion and could differentiate it from other nonmelanocytic pigmented lesions, cytology could not provide a precise diagnosis of the different histologic types of benign melanocytic nevi, nor could it enable their differentiation from dysplastic melanocytic nevi or incipient malignant melanoma.