Lentigo Maligna Is More Common on the Driver's Side

Lentigo maligna (LM) (Hutchinson's melanotic freckle) is a slow-growing clinicopathologic variant of melanoma. It occurs typically in older individuals on sites of maximal sunlight exposure, especially the face, suggesting a more direct relationship with sunlight exposure than other types of melanoma.^1,2 The amount of sunlight necessary to induce these tumors in susceptible people is unknown. A previous study attributed the different frequencies of solar keratoses occurring on the left and right sides of exposed sites in men and women to differences in exposure possibly received while traveling in motor vehichles.³ The present study aimed to determine if this difference in distribution of sunlight-induced tumors due to different exposures while traveling in motor vehicles held for LM.

Subjects and Methods.  The records of all patients from 1984 through 1990 with lesions diagnosed as LM (with and without associated invasive melanoma) in a large pathology service in the Australian state