Skin, Hair and Nail Terms
Skin, hair, nails, dermatologic findings, and skin conditions. Browse definitions and meanings below.
What is dermatology?
Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin and with the hair, nails and glands growing from it. The skin is the body's largest organ, and because it is the only one that can be examined directly, it is also where internal disease most often becomes visible.
Dermatologic vocabulary is unusually precise about appearance, because the description carries the diagnosis. A macule is flat and a papule is raised. A vesicle is a small blister and a bulla a large one. A plaque is a raised area wider than it is thick. These words are measurements, not synonyms.
Terms in this topic
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A substance being studied in the treatment of melanoma, liver cancer, and other types of cancer.
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A drug that is used to treat certain skin conditions and is being studied in the treatment of cutaneous (skin-related) T-cell cancer and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
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The pattern of loss, and whether the follicle survives, matter more than the amount, because one determines whether hair can return.
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Amelanotic melanoma is a form of skin cancer that lacks the dark pigment typical of melanoma, often appearing pink or red instead.
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A drug that is used to treat certain skin conditions and is being studied in the treatment of cutaneous (skin-related) T-cell cancer and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
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Bloom syndrome is a rare inherited disorder causing short stature and a sun sensitive facial rash, with a markedly increased cancer risk.
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Bloom-Torre-Machacek syndrome is the full clinical name for Bloom syndrome, a rare inherited disorder marked by short stature and elevated cancer risk.
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Melanoma that is found only in the epidermis (outer layer of skin).
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Melanoma that has spread from the epidermis (outer layer of skin) down into the papillary dermis (the thin top layer of the dermis).
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Melanoma that has spread down through the papillary dermis (the thin top layer of the dermis) but not into the reticular dermis (the thick bottom layer of the dermis).
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Melanoma that has spread down into the reticular dermis (the thick bottom layer of the dermis).
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Melanoma that has spread down into the subcutaneous tissue (tissue beneath the skin).
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A system for describing how deep melanoma has spread into the skin.
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Cutaneous findings and conditions involve the skin itself, as distinguished from structures located in deeper tissue layers or internal organs.
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Cancer that has spread from the breast to the skin.
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One of the older cytotoxic drugs, still holding its place in Hodgkin lymphoma long after newer agents displaced it in melanoma.
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Where a rash sits is often the strongest clue to its cause, since contact reactions trace the outline of whatever touched the skin.
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A type of tumor that begins as a hard nodule and grows slowly.
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One of the few specialties where the same doctor examines the lesion, takes the biopsy and removes the cancer, often in one visit.
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A melanoma that breaks its own rules: colorless, scar-like, easily dismissed as harmless, and inclined to creep outward along nerves.