Subungual acrolentiginous amelanotic melanoma treated with amputation of the distal and middle phalanges


Acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) is an uncommon melanoma type among Caucasions. ALM bears an unfavorable prognosis because of late presentation or common misdiagnosis. Amelanotic variants, albeit rare, may pose an additional clinical challenge and may further delay the diagnosis and treatment. Thus, the threshold for biopsying even marginally suspicious lesions should be low. We present two cases of Caucasian patients with amelanotic subungual ALM, stage 2a and 2c respectively, successfully treated with a functional amputation.