Brown Circles

Circles Brown 

Brown circles on the face are due to melanin in the openings of follicles but the melanin being superficial shows up as brown instead of grey where the melanin is deeper in the dermis and the dermatoscopic view is oblique rather than vertical when viewing as brown. You often will see combinations of both. in the same lesion. Melanin in and around follicles is seen in lentigo maligna, Solar lentigo, Seborrhoeic keratoses, and pigmented solar keratoses and SCC in situ . You look for additional clues to separate out the diagnosis, eg white circles in SCC , Rosettes in Solar keratoses, white central structureless area in dermatofibroma.

Seborrhoeic Keratosis

Dermatofibroma Here the whole surface is composed of brown circles arranged as a network. Sometimes the circles dont touch and we can call them browncircles.

Solar lentigo Brown circles of varying sizes sometimes forming a network

Image courtesy of Jean Yves Gourant

Clark nevus