Sunil Kothiwala - Clinical Cases in Disorders of Melanocytes

This series of concise practical guides is designed to facilitate the clinical decision-making process by reviewing a number of cases and defining the various diagnostic and management decisions open to clinicians.

Each title is illustrated and diverse in scope, enabling the reader to obtain relevant clinical information regarding both standard and unusual cases in a rapid, easy to digest format. Each focuses on one disease or patient group, and includes common cases to allow readers to know they are doing things right if they follow the case guidelines.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10473

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

The study of pigmentary disorders has attracted a lot of attention in the recent past. The extent of disease and the psychological impact of different pigmentary disorders such as vitiligo, melasma and lichen planus pigmentosus can be severe, more so in people with coloured skin. Social stigma and discrimination too are known and can be devastating for the affected patients. Treatment of various conditions presenting with dyspigmentation remains challenging, and improving the quality of life of patients suffering from such conditions is another important treatment goal. While some diseases are restricted to skin and mucosa only, others are visible manifestations of underlying systemic diseases. Dermatologists and physicians should be able to recognize pigmentary changes related to various systemic diseases in order to provide better and timely care to the patient.

Melanocytes are derived from the neural crest cells and after extensive migration during development, they finally reside in skin, inner ear, and uveal tract as highly dendritic, heavily pigmented cells. These cells synthesize melanin within melanosomes which get transferred to neighbouring keratinocytes. Any abnormality in migration from neural crest, melanin synthesis or transfer of melanosomes to keratinocytes may result in melanocytic disorders manifesting as altered pigmentation. Additionally, melanocytes assume crucial roles in inner ear and uveal tract, evident as the presence of ocular and hearing symptoms in many melanocytic disorders.

This book does not attempt to cover all melanocytic disorders but focuses on common pigmentary disorders which clinicians see in their routine practise. The chapters start with a representative case, followed by a discussion on aetiopathogenesis, diagnostic methods and treatment modalities of various hyperpigmentary and hypopigmentary disorders. The format, established by series editor Robert A Norman, provides a quick, easy to digest review of different conditions. We hope that this work will be helpful to young as well as experienced clinicians who have interest in melanocytic disorders.

We express our gratitude to the authors for working tirelessly on this project and completing the chapters on time.

We are grateful to our teachers for showing us the path.

We thank all our patients, who kept faith in us and taught us a lot.

We thank all our students, past and present: we learn more when we teach.

We are thankful to the Springer staff for doing an excellent job in making this book project a success.