This cute little benign tumor presented as a 3-mm skin-colored papule on the nose of a 44-year-old man.

Because desmoplastic melanomas can look so bland, I tend to treat spindle cell lesions from sun-exposed areas with disproportionate respect and attention. In this case, I ruled out melanoma because of 1) encapsulation, 2) lack of lymphoid response, 3) no evidence of neurotropism, and 4) no junctional/epidermal component. And even after all that, I still sent it to our dermatopathologist for his opinion!