Pigmentary disorders: A comprehensive compendium

Venkataram Mysore

 Venkat Charmalaya, Bangalore - 560 040, Karnataka, India

Correspondence Address:
Venkataram Mysore
Venkat Charmalaya, Bangalore - 560 040, Karnataka
India

Editors: Koushik Lahiri, Manas Chatterjee, Rashmi Sarkar

Publisher: New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd.

Hardcover

ISBN 978-93-5090-658-3

Edition: First, 2014

Pages: 442

INR 3995/-

This fairly large-sized book on pigmentary disorders is a comprehensive review of different aspects of the subject. The topic has not seen any publication in recent times in this part of the world and this book seeks to fill that void.

It can be said that the book has admirably succeeded in fulfilling this requirement. The writing style is lucid, with each chapter outlining key messages at the beginning of the chapter. Photographs are outstanding and printing quality is of a high order. Because the book is basically aimed at an Indian audience, the emphasis on vitiligo (16 exhaustive chapters) and melasma (11 well-written chapters) is not surprising. The articles are well referenced

Some chapters stand out. The chapter on histopathology on melasma is one such. The chapters on infective and postinflammatory diseases, scoring methods in melasma, and recent trends and future treatment paradigms in melasma, too are a pleasure to read. There is a delightful chapter on pendulous melanocytes in melasma. Likewise the initial chapters on evolution are interesting.

The book is not without its faults. I was searching for a chapter on "Approach to a patient with pigmentation" which is missing. Surprisingly there is no chapter on melanoma! The only mention of albinism, an important metabolic disorder is one sentence on albinism deafness syndrome. There is no chapter on lasers in pigmentary diseases, though there is some discussion on them in the chapters on periorbital melanosis and infective and postinflammatory diseases. The section on Nevus of Ota barely mentions lasers stating "Q-Nd Yag laser can be used". There is no chapter on pigmentary disorders of hair, though leukotrichia is a common problem in India. The chapter on nutritional pigmentary diseases does not have any images. I am sure the authors will look into these in the subsequent editions.

However, despite these shortcomings the book is excellent and will be very useful to all clinicians. It is highly recommended for all individual and college libraries. The editors and authors deserve our compliments for their effort.