Oral cavity & oropharynx

Potentially malignant & dysplasia

Smokeless tobacco keratosis



Last author update: 1 March 2013
Last staff update: 23 August 2022

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PubMed Search: Smokeless tobacco keratosis

Charu Thakral, M.D.
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Cite this page: Thakral C. Smokeless tobacco keratosis. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/oralcavitysmokelesstobacco.html. Accessed March 28th, 2024.
Definition / general
  • Occurs in users of smokeless tobacco (snuff) or tobacco chewers
  • Severity related to length of exposure and tobacco brand
  • Reversible with cessation of use (Arch Pathol Lab Med 2004;128:e17)
Gross description
  • Filmy, gray-white opalescence at areas of contact with tobacco
Microscopic (histologic) description
  • Parakeratosis or hyperorthokeratosis with parakeratin spires ("chevrons"), acanthosis, mild chronic inflammation and PAS+ marked hyalin deposition resembling amyloid
Differential diagnosis
  • Hyalinosis cutis et mucosae:
    • Deposition begins around vessels, eccrine glands and epithelial-stromal interface, then fills entire dermis of all oral mucosa, tongue, pharynx, larynx and vocal cords
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