Nevus roseus: a distinct vascular birthmark.

The new term nevus roseus is proposed to denote a lateralized telangiectatic birthmark with a light-red or pale-pink color, unlike the dark hue of nevus flammeus. It appears to be a distinct entity rather than just a color variant of nevus flammeus. Remarkably, nevus flammeus is a characteristic component of phacomatosis pigmentovascularis type II ("phacomatosis cesioflammea"), whereas nevus roseus represents a distinguishing feature of phacomatosis pigmentovascularis type III ("phacomatosis spilorosea"). In analogy to "port-wine stain" that is used as a synonym for nevus flammeus, nevus roseus could also be called "rosé-wine stain". This lateralized vascular birthmark should be distinguished from the salmon patch that always involves the midline of the body. Nevus roseus belongs to the rather broad category of telangiectatic nevi, as well as to the even larger group of "capillary malformations". For obvious reasons these terms are not suitable to designate any specific type of vascular birthmark such as nevus roseus.