Skin nonmelanocytic tumor

Other tumors of skin

White sponge nevus



Last author update: 1 March 2013
Last staff update: 15 October 2020

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PubMed Search: white sponge nevus

Christopher S. Hale, M.D.
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Cite this page: Hale C White sponge nevus. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/skintumornonmelanocyticwhitespongenevus.html. Accessed March 28th, 2024.
Definition / general
  • Not a melanocytic entity; benign keratinization defect leading to white plaques on mucosa
  • Primarily affects nonkeratinized stratified squamous epithelium
  • First described by Cannon in 1935 (Arch Dermatol Syphilol 1935;31:365)
Terminology
  • Synonyms: familial white folded mucosal dysplasia, leukoderma exfoliativum mucosae oris, hereditary leukokeratosis
Epidemiology
Sites
  • Buccal, gingival, esophageal, rectal or genital mucosal surfaces
Clinical features
  • White to gray, diffuse, painless, spongy and folded plaques on buccal mucosa
Case reports
Treatment
  • No standard treatment; although reports of tetracycline, chlorhexidine
  • Progression usually stops at puberty
  • No malignant transformation
Clinical images

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White plaques on buccal mucosa

White plaques on tongue

Microscopic (histologic) description
  • Parakeratosis, acanthosis with formation of large blunt rete ridges and spongiosis
  • Extensive vacuolation of suprabasal keratinocytes
  • Dyskeratotic cells exhibit dense peri and paranuclear eosinophilic condensations, which correspond to tonofilament aggregates
  • Abundant Odland bodies (keratinosome, membrane bound granule in upper stratum spinosum) within keratinocytes but few are present in the intercellular spaces
Microscopic (histologic) images

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Parakeratosis

Differential diagnosis
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