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The article presents views of author on Dermatopathology. The practice of medicine did not have much appeal when he entered medical school in 1927. Surgery and obstetrics impressed him as legitimate services to mankind but he thought there was a lot of hocus-pocus in the practice of internal medicine. It appeared that a doctor's main functions, aside from surgery and obstetrics, were counseling and emotional and spiritual support to the patient and his family.

Pigmented nevi, if excised incompletely, often recur and occasionally cause concern to the patient and the physician. In this study of 175 recurrent nevi from 173 patients, the clinical, gross, and microscopic features of recurrent nevi are described and criteria for diagnosis are developed. Rarely, recurrent nevi have atypical features that suggest malignant melanoma. The differential diagnosis entails clinical and histologic criteria that are presented.

Histopathologic changes in skin lesions from 14 patients with lymphomatoid granulomatosis (some of which were from the original series of Liebow, Carrington, and Friedman) are described. These are compared to the microscopic changes in skin lesions from 17 patients with lymphomatoid papulosis. Significant differences between the two diseases are present, notably the lack of epidermal and papillary dermal involvement and almost exclusive vasocentricity of the lesions of lymphomatoid granulomatosis. Lymphomatoid papulosis exhibits extensive involvement of the epidermis and papillary dermis. A diffuse cellular infiltrate is present in the reticular dermis as well as around blood vessels in lymphomatoid papulosis. The relationship of the two diseases to B- and T-lymphocytes is discussed.

It is not generally appreciated that pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) can be associated with epidermal perforation by elastic fibers. We report an example of this phenomenon. The term "perforating PXE" is suggested and a distinction is made from elastosis perforans serpiginosa (EPS). We believe that most reported cases of coexistence of PXE and EPS are perforating PXE and that the coexistence of EPS has not been clearly demonstrated.

Monsel's solution produces artifacts which can be troublesome if rebiopsy of a lesion is necessary. The tattoo produced can distort or obscure the basic pathologic process. It may lead an unwary pathologist into the false interpretation of the depth of a melanoma. Pathologists should recognize the artifact and we describe its characteristics. The use of Monsel's solution for hemostasis should be discouraged following biopsies of pigmented lesions or tumors which may prove to be diagnostic problems. The pathologist should be informed if Monsel's solution has been used.