Melanocytic Nevi

Melanocytic nevi are benign proliferations of melanocytes located at different skin levels. Pigmentation in different shades of brown can range from a brown-yellowish to brown-blackish color; sometimes-as in mature cellular nevi-they can be skin-colored. This chapter discusses the classification, incidence, prevalence, etiology factors, disease associations, prognosis and diagnosis of the melanocytic nevi. The chapter describes about management of dysplastic nevi. In addition, it focuses on the risk of a melanocytic nevus developing into a melanoma, and discusses about the management of patient with multiple melanocytic nevi. The management of patient with an isolated congenital nevus is discussed in the chapter. Finally, the chapter describes the factors that predict regular skin self-examination and accuracy of the skin self-examination.