Transepidermal elimination is a mechanism whereby foreign or altered constituents can be removed from the dermis. The phenomenon of transepidermal elimination may occur as a primary process characterizing disorders such as elastosis perforans serpiginosa, reactive perforating collagenosis and chondrodermatitis nodularis chronica helicis; as well as a secondary process characterizing disorders such as granuloma annulare, necrobiosis lipoidica diabeticorum, calcinosis cutis, pseudoxanthoma elasticum, spitz nevi, pimented nevi, porokeratosis plantaris discreta and metastatic tumors. A 17-year-old man presented with a 2×2 cm sized well-circumscribed slightly erythematous plaque with some black colored papules on the left dorsum of his hand. The histopathology of the lesion indicated angiokeratoma circumscriptum with transepidermal elimination.
(Korean J Dermatol 2000;38(2):258~261)