A 52-year-old woman presents with multiple lesions on her legs, which she calls warts. These have gradually appeared over the past 2 to 3 years. They have persisted despite the patient's use of a salicylic-acid-based OTC wart treatment and her primary care provider's use of liquid nitrogen. Her mother and one sibling have the same lesions. The patient is in good health otherwise.
Examination reveals innumerable epidermal tan-to-gray warty papules on both of the patient's legs. These appear as though they had been “stuck on” the surface of the skin and, as the patient reports, can easily be peeled off. The lesions change the farther down the leg one looks, becoming more numerous, drier, and whiter, especially on the dorsal foot (see Figure 1).
The correct name for these extremely common lesions is
- Flat wart
- Dermatofibroma
- Actinic keratoses
- Stucco keratoses