Leucoderma in children: Review of the literature

Background. - Leucoderma is a frequent presenting complaint in children and it is sometimes difficult to make a definite diagnostic during the first consultation. The aim of this study is to analyse the diagnoses associated with leucoderma in children in order to propose a practical approach to their differential diagnosis. Material and methods. - We performed a review of the literature using the keywords "leucoderma children review", "leucoderma Ito" and "nevus depigmentosus" in the Medline database. All relevant articles were included. Results. - Four hundred and thirty-five articles were retrieved and 179 were analysed. A clinical approach was proposed in 6 articles and investigations in 15 articles. Discussion. - Causal diagnosis of leucoderma may frequently be made on clinical grounds by determining the age of onset and distribution of lesions. Nevertheless, some situations require investigation. The literature is limited regarding clinical approaches and examinations in leucoderma. Herein, we present a systematic clinical and laboratory approach to the differential diagnosis of these skin disorders. (C) 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.