Reticular hyperpigmentations

Diseases that are associated with circumscribed or diffuse reticular hyperpigmentation can basically be divided into:

• congenital reticular hyperpigmentation (rare)
• and
• acquired reticular hyperpigmentation (frequent)

The circumscribed or also disseminated reticular hyperpigmentations of the skin and the adjacent mucous membranes are the leading symptom of a number of genodermatoses. They are often combined with hyper- and hypopigmentations.

Genodermatoses with reticular hyperpigmentations:

• Dowling-Degos disease
• Kitamura disease
• Haber syndrome
• dyskeratosis congenita
• Galli-Galli disease
• Dyschromatosis universalis hereditaria
• dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria
• Naegeli-Franceschetti syndrome (Dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis)
• prurigo pigmentosa
• Poikiloderma with blistering(Kindler syndrome)
• Rothmund-Thomson Syndrome
• Epidermolysis bullosa simplex with spotted hyperpigmentations
• Pachyonychia congenita with amyloidosis
• Macular amyloidosis (mostly flat hyperpigmentation)
• KID Syndrome

Acquired reticular hyperpigmentations:

Reticular pigmentation patterns also occur in acquired skin diseases as post-inflammatory hyperpigmentations. For example, after thermal, traumatic, chemical or actinic skin damage. Furthermore after endocrine irritations:

• melasma (chloasma)
• Melanodermatitis toxica (Hoffmann-Habermann)
• Actinic hyperpigmentation (e.g. in erythrosis interfollicularis colli)
• Thermal reticular hyperpigmentation (repetitive infrared irradiation, heating pad: hyperpigmentation caloric)
• Traumatic reticular hyperpigmentation (after abrasions, after other injuries)
• Chemical hyperpigmentation (e.g. furanocoumarins in meadow grass dermatitis, furthermore by alkylating substances and antimetabolites used as chemotherapeutic agents)
• Papillomatosis confluens et reticularis (reticular, laminar and stripy hyperpigmentation)
• Acquired poikiloderma