The Primary Care Dermatology Society Logo
THE LEADING DERMATOLOGICAL SOCIETY FOR GPS PCDS on Twitter follow @PCDSUK Contact Us
Website author – Dr Tim Cunliffe (read more)
  • PCDS home
  • About the PCDS
  • Dermatology dictionary
  • Dermatology: the basics
  • Diagnostic tables
    • Diagnostic tables - how to use
    • General dermatology
    • Skin lesions
      • Brown-black-blue
      • Skin coloured-red-purple
      • White-yellow-orange
      • Diagnosis by site
  • Dermoscopy
  • Investigations
  • A-Z of clinical guidance
  • Simple desktop treatment guide
  • Consent forms
  • Patients and carers
  • Leg dressings and other bandaging techniques
  • Skin surgery and cryosurgery
  • PCDS guidance and other guidelines
  • Quality of Life Measures
  • Research - keep up to date
  • GPwER & service development
  • PCDS educational events
  • Diplomas and other educational programmes
  • Resources - websites and books
  • Latest news and bulletins
  • Patient information leaflets
  • Patient support groups
  • Fundraising - the BSF
  • Ethical dermatology
  • PCDS website poster
  • Affiliated societies
  • Acknowledgements

Skin lesions - white / yellow / orange

White

Visual guide - click here

  • Milia (face most common site, especially the eyelids and cheeks. Can also occur in sites of skin injury / several to many / 1--2 mm diameter / white-yellow papules protruding from just under the skin surface)
  • Epidermoid cyst syn. sebaceous cyst (mainly face, neck, shoulders and chest / single, occasionally several / appears white-yellow if close to skin surface / may have a central keratin-filled punctum attached to skin surface / a firm, elastic, dome-shaped protuberance / mobile over deeper structures)
  • Atrophic scar eg acne
  • Actinic keratosis (sun-exposed sites / single to several, occasionally many / 0.5-1 cm diameter / flat / rough adherent white scale)
  • Stucco keratosis (mainly lower legs, forearms / several to many / small, less than 1 cm diameter / flat / rough white surface)
  • Basal cell carcinoma - morphoeic type (central face most common site / slow growing / single / white-yellow / flat or slightly raised / waxy or scar-like appearance / firm)
  • Halo naevus (usually young age / single to several / most commonly the back / circular white zone surrounding a regular mole)
  • Melanoma with regression (single / two or more colours including white / irregular shape and colour distribution)
  • Pilomatricoma (mainly children / single / usually head, neck, upper extremities / 3-30 mm in diameter / stony hard and deep-seated)
  • Gouty tophi (most common sites are fingers and ears / single to several / tophi contain a white pasty material, which works its way towards the skin surface to drain)
  • Calcification of the skin and subcutaneous tissues syn. calcinosis cutis. Examples include:
    • Scrotal calcinosis (men aged 20-40 years / several / white-yellow / firm, subcutaneous nodules sitting within the scrotal skin)
    • Dystrophic calcification (calcinosis at a site of tissue damage)
    • Some cases of connective tissue disorders (eg the CREST syndrome - calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, oesophageal dysfunction, sclerodactyly and telangiectasia)
  • Leukoplakia (and other white patches on the lips or in the mouth)

Yellow

Visual guide - click here

  • Sebaceous gland lesions
    • ​Naevus sebaceous (often present at birth / scalp, occasionally the face / single / pink-yellow / flat, or slightly raised and flat-topped / smooth initially, become warty with age)
    • Sebaceous gland hyperplasia (common / face / can be single, often several / white-yellow / 1-3 mm diameter, raised)
    • Sebaceous adenoma (face / single / yellow-tinged / 0.5-1 cm, raised) 
    • Sebaceous carcinoma (eyelids / single / yellow-orange with a translucent appearance / raised, sustained growth)
  • Xanthomata 
    • Xanthelasmata (symmetrical distribution on eyelids, and medial canthus / single to several / yellow / circular or elongated / raised, flat-topped / soft and velvety)
    • Eruptive xanthomata (most commonly buttocks, shoulders, arms and legs, but any site can be affected, although facial involvement is rare / often arise suddenly / yellow / grouped, small raised lesions)
    • Plane xanthomata (can affect any site / several to many / yellow-orange / variable size / flat, or slightly raised and flat-topped)
    • Palmar xanthomata (similar appearance to plane xanthomata, but found on the palmar creases of the hands)
  • Fordyce spots (vermilion border of the lips, oral mucosa and genitalia / small, smooth, yellow-white spots)
  • Mastocytoma (usually children / single to several / red-yellow / 1-5 cm diameter / become red and swollen within a few minutes of gentle rubbing) 
  • Keratoacanthoma (adults / rapid growth / single / yellow to skin-coloured / raised - can reach several cm in diameter) 
  • Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis (often middle-aged patients / extensor surfaces, especially of the hands and forearms / several to many / yellow-brown / small and raised / lesions on ears and nose may cause cartilage destruction / destructive symmetrical polyarthritis)

Orange

  • Juvenile xanthogranuloma (infants and young children / 0.5 cm to several cm diameter / tan-orange / dome-shaped  / smooth)
  • Xanthoma disseminatum (mainly children and young adults / symmetrical involvement of face, trunk and proximal extremities, especially flexural sites / yellow-orange papules and nodules that become confluent, especially in the flexures, to form xanthomatous plaques)
     

The Cunliffe (TP) Diagnostic Skin Lesion Table - Copyright to the PCDS, all rights reserved.

  • PCDS Corporate Sponsors (View all sponsors)
  • Contact Us
  • Site Map
  • Disclaimer

Copyright © 1994 - 2019 The Primary Care Dermatology Society. All rights reserved. Charity No. 1109376
Lead Author - Dr Tim Cunliffe. Web Design - Mode Ten Designs.


P O Box 789, Rickmansworth, WD3 0NU. UK
Tel: 0333 939 0126 Email: pcds@pcds.org.uk

Website Privacy Statement Policy
Data Protection Policy

PCDS Latest News & Bulletins

PCDS Winter Bulletin 2018  |  18.12.2018
New clinical chapter: Diabetic dermopathy  |  25.10.2018
PCDS Spring Bulletin 2018  |  16.05.2018