Venous lake

A venous lake (also known as phlebectasisJames, William; Berger, Timothy; Elston, Dirk (2005). Andrews' Diseases of the Skin: Clinical Dermatology. (10th ed.). Saunders. Page 588. .) is a generally solitary, soft, compressible, dark blue to violaceous, 0.2- to 1-cm papule commonly found on sun-exposed surfaces of the vermilion border of the lip, face and ears.Habif, Thomas P. Clinical Dermatology: A Color Guide to Diagnosis and Therapy. Mosby, Inc. 2004. Page 825. .Sauer, Gordon. Manual of Skin Diseases. Lippincott. 1985. Page 315. . Lesions generally occur among the elderly.

Though these lesions may resemble nodular melanoma, the lack of induration, slow growth, and lightening appearance upon diascopy suggest against it, and indicate a vascular lesion.Wolff and Johnson. Fitzpatrick's Color Atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 2005. Page 192. . Additionally, lack of pulsation distinguishes this lesion of the lower lip from a tortuous segment of the inferior labial artery.

Cause The cause is unknown; however it is thought to be associated with sun exposure, leading to a dilated blood-filled vascular channel "...lined with a singled layer of flattened endothelial cells and a thin wall of fibrous tissue filled with red blood cells."

Treatment Treatment may be requested for cosmetic reasons. Traditional techniques such as surgical excision are effective but will leave a scar. Laser therapy has become the mainstay of therapy. Published research suggests that the Long Pulsed Nd:YAG laser is a very effective, with a clearance rate of 94% following a single treatment. In this study no scarring or other complications were reported.

History The term was coined by American physician William Bennett Bean.

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Venous lake

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