Pigment incontinenceQ82.3

The term pigment incontinence is used to describe the loss of melanin from the basal cell layers of the epidermis. The pigment transported through the dermoepidermal basement membrane accumulates in the upper corium both intracellularly in the cytoplasm of histiocytes (melanophages) and extracellularly. This is caused by inflammatory processes in the corium that lead to damage or complete destruction of the melanocytes.

Pigment incontinence is also genetically fixed, e.g. in Incontinentia pigmenti, Bloch-Sulzberger type; Incontinentia pigmenti, Franceschetti-Jadassohn type; Incontinentia pigmenti achromians or in various dermatoses such as Lichen planus, Lupus erythematodes chronicus discoides, Erythema dyschromicum perstans as well as fixed drug reaction.