Pigmented lesions in newborn infants

SUMMARY 1058 newborn infants were examined. Forty‐one (39%) had clinically discernible pigmented lesions compatible with melanocy tic naevi. Biopsy was performed on thirty‐four of the forty‐one and of these; eleven, representing 1.01% of the infants, proved to be melanocytic naevi. No giant (garment) naevi were seen in this series. Two of the eleven naevi pathologically examined showed histological changes similar to those that have been reported in some giant naevi, but the remaining nine were not only different from criteria usually assigned to giant naevi, but they also differed from the usual adult naevi, in that most were predominantly junctional. None of the melanocytic naevi in this series showed any suggestion of malignant change. In newborn infants it is often impossible clinically to distinguish naevi from other types of pigmented lesions, as only eleven out of the thirty‐four pigmen‐ted lesions were melanocytic naevi. Seven of the eleven melanocytic naevi were under 1.5 cm in diameter. No pigmented lesions were found on the palms, soles or genitalia.