Abstract: BACKGROUND: Melanoma is one of the conditions with greater increase in incidence worldwide in recent decades. It is a skin cancer with potential high lethality and predominates in Caucasian adults. Treatment of primary cutaneous melanoma is essentially surgical and search for sentinel lymph node can modify the aggressiveness of the treatment. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the epidemiological profile of patients diagnosed with primary cutaneous melanoma, histopathological features and compare with literature data. METHODS: This is a retrospective, observational, single-center, case series study of patients with primary cutaneous melanoma, who underwent surgery between January 2008 and December 2013. The parameters include: Age, sex, clinical stage, date of surgery, tumor location, histological subtype, condition of surgical margins, Breslow thickness, mitotic index, presence of ulceration and metastasis on admission. RESULTS: We included 321 melanoma patients who were treated at Hospital Erasto Gaertner. The population consisted of 58.9% females and 41.1% males with an average age of 52.8 ± 16.3 years. As for the clinical stage, 51.1% were in the initial stage, 24.3% in the clinical stage II (A, B and C), 21.2% in clinical stage III and 3.4% with distant metastases. The most frequent location of the primary melanoma was the trunk, and the histological subtype was superficial spreading pattern. Intermediate and thick melanomas were the most frequent. STUDY LIMITATIONS: This is a retrospective study and some information and data could be incomplete or absent. CONCLUSION: The diagnosis and treatment of melanoma in early stages provides less morbidity and improved survival of patients. Understanding the biological behavior of tumor and knowing the local epidemiology guide health strategies.

Abstract Frontal fibrosing alopecia is a variant of lichen planopilaris with marginal progressive hair loss on the scalp, eyebrows and axillae. We report a case of frontal fibrosing alopecia and lichen planus pigmentosus in a postmenopausal woman, that started with alopecia on the eyebrows and then on the frontoparietal region, with periocular and cervical hyperpigmentation of difficult management. The condition was controlled with systemic corticosteroid therapy and finasteride. Lichen planus pigmentosus is an uncommon variant of lichen planus frequently associated with frontal fibrosing alopecia in darker phototipes. It should be considered in patients affected by scarring alopecia with a pattern of lichen planopilaris and areas of skin hyperpigmentation revealing perifollicular hyperpigmentation refractory to multiple treatments. This case illustrates diagnostic and therapeutic challenge in face of scarring alopecia and perifollicular hyperpigmentation.