A rare case of primary malignant melanoma in an ileostomy

Summary The vast majority of malignant melanomas occur in the skin. These are associated with sunlight exposure and thought to be due to ultraviolet radiation. Melanomas in rare instances (1.3–1.4 percent) may originate from extracutaneous tissues such as the leptomeninges. 1 They have also been reported arising from gastrointestinal, respiratory and genitourinary mucosa. Sunlight is not an aetiologic factor with mucosal melanomas. Herein, we report an extremely rare example of malignant melanoma arising from the mucocutaneous junction of an ileostomy. Only one such case has been reported in the literature. 2