label: Pigment incontinence
label_lc: pigment incontinence
description: "A process in which melanosomes (melanin granules) are deposited in the dermis. The dermal melanosomes are observed to be mainly in macrophages. This phenomenon of pigmentary incontinence usually follows an inflammatory process with the basic feature of basal cell damage, such as in lichen planus, lupus erythematosus, Riehl's melanosis, incontinentia pigmenti (Bloch-Sulzberger), and fixed drug eruption. Incontinence of pigment, or dropping off of epidermal melanin into the dermis, frequently produces a clinically recognizable and characteristic slate-gray pigmentation."