A LENTIGO SIMPLEX or MELANOCYTIC LENTIGO is the earliest stage of a developing MELANOCYTIC NEVUS. It shows up as a homogeneously tinted brown to black skin spot of 0.5 - 1.5 MM diametric length. Often, this skin spot type occurs numerously ("LENTIGINES SIMPLICES"), with additional lesions following each other over months to years. While LENTIGINES SIMPLICES are harmless and quite "normal" findings on many people's skin, the sudden onset of a dark skin spot may yet rise concerns regarding its true nature.

Given the fact that early melanoma also starts up with a single dark skin spot, and that even with the use of epiluminescence microscopy (ELM, dermatoscopy, dermoscopy) these tiny lesions are pretty challenging to assess definitely, the best way to deal with them is monitoring their further development over time. Usually, the dark - often black - tint will get lighter and less dense over time, and the shape configuration will not change substantially in terms of enlargement. If this is not the case, excisional biopsy may be considered to definitely clarify the lesion's histology. If the lesion would then turn out to have been early melanoma, this would mean a 100% cure since the preceding excisional biopsy had removed the lesion in its entirety.