Idiopathic Guttate Hypomelanosis Research Articles

SENILE DEPIGMENTED SPOTS (IDIOPATHIC GUTTATE HYPOMELANOSIS)

To the Editor.— We have a feeling that Idiopathic Guttate Hypomelanosis of Cummings and Cottel in the February 1966 issue of theArchives, is identical with senile depigmented (or hypopigmented) spots which has been well known as a distinct entity in Japan for many years. In Japanese, lesions are easily recognized without any diagnostic tool. Wood's lamp, as reported by Whitehead et al ( Arch Derm 94 :279-281, 1966), is not necessary for diagnosis. Thus, it would be valuable to introduce our clinical study on this disease published in the Dermatologica et Urologica ( 20 :1123-1131, 1966 [in Japanese]). Of the 312 Japanese men and 279 women examined, incidence of senile depigmented spots was found to be about 6% in the examined subjects in their 20's and about 70% in those in their 50's. The older the person the more lesions he had. Predilection of disease was in the covered areas,