Melanosis of the vagina and human papillomavirus infection, an uncommon pathology: Case Report

benign melanotic lesions of the vagina are uncommon and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. a 34-year-old woman was referred because of a vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia 1 biopsy result. on the gynecological examination, two different hyperpigmented areas were noted in the vagina. the colposcopic visualization of the cervix and vagina found an aceto-white lesion at the right lateral wall of the upper third of the vagina. biopsies from three areas were taken. histological study reported a melanosis of the vagina and hpv infection. an immunohistochemical panel of epithelial markers was performed in vaginal samples, such as cytokeratin ae1/ae3 and epithelial membrane antigen, mesenchymal marker: vimentin; melanocytic makers: protein s-100 and hmb45 (human melanoma black); proliferating cell marker: proliferating cell nuclear antigen (pcna), and p-53 oncoprotein. high risk (16, 18, 31, 45) and low risk (6, 11) hpv types were studied by in situ hybridization using the same vaginal samples. ck, ema and vimentin were 2+. melanocytic markers, hmb45 and s100, and pcna were 1+ in basal cell layer. p-53 was negative. the melanotic tissue and acetowhite lesion were positives to hpv types 6,11. in conclusion, melanosis of the vagina is a uncommon benign pathology. usually, melanosis is present in women over 40 years old. we present a case of melanosis of the vagina in a young woman infected with low-risk hpv types and review the literature.