Skin Moles

Common features:
Typical acquired skin moles vary considerably in their gross features. In general, appearance to the naked eye is orderly; i.e., lesions have a homogeneous surface and coloration pattern, round or oval shape, regular outlines, and relatively sharp border. Typical acquired skin moles may be papillomatous, dome-shaped, pedunculated, or flat-topped and usually are flesh-colored, pink, or brown.
Clinico-pathological correlation:
More elevated acquired skin moles tend to be more lightly pigmented, and flatter acquired skin moles tend to be more darkly pigmented. More elevated and less pigmented lesions tend to have a prominent intradermal nevus component, whereas flatter and darker lesions have a more prominent junctional component and a less prominent dermal component. Skin moles on palms and soles, even compound skin moles, may not distort the skin surface, perhaps because of a thickened stratum corneum in these sites.
Special features:
Dark pigmentation:
Very dark brown and black are unusual colors for typical acquired skin moles in lightly pigmented people. In contrast, dark pigmentation is usual for Typical acquired skin moles in people who have darkly pigmented skin. Very dark brown and black in skin moles on acral and mucosal surfaces and nail apparatus should be viewed with suspicion regardless of normal skin color.
Other colors:
Blue, gray, red, and white areas in a mole are not typical features and ought also to be viewed with suspicion.
Hair quality:
The surfaces of skin moles may reveal hair that is less than, equal to, or greater than that of surrounding skin. Hair in skin moles may be coarser, longer, and darker than that in surrounding skin.
Site specific:
Lesions on palms and soles are usually hairless. Size, shape, skin markings, and hair quality of skin moles in darkly pigmented races are similar to those in whites.
Extent of lesion:
Skin moles of the nail apparatus may be a dark or light brown, extending from the nail matrix to the distal edge of the nail plate; extension of the pigmentation onto the skin of the nail fold or beyond the distal nail groove should be considered suspicious for melanocytic dysplasia or malignant melanoma.