- Bitot spots small, circumscribed, lusterless, grayish white, foamy, greasy, triangular deposits on the bulbar conjunctiva adjacent to the cornea in the area of the palpebral fissure of both eyes; occurs in vitamin A deficiency.
- blood spots hemorrhagic graafian follicles seen in ovaries of mice, caused by injection of urine of pregnant women; a positive result in the now obsolete Aschheim-Zondek test for pregnancy.
- Brushfield spots light-colored condensations of the surface of the mid-iris; seen in Down syndrome.
- café au lait spots pigmented cutaneous lesions, ranging from light to dark brown, and due to an excess of melanosomes in the malpighian cells, rather than to an excess of melanocytes; café au lait spots are one of the major cutaneous manifestations of neurofibromatosis (von Recklinghausen disease), with type 1 (peripheral) neurofibromatosis, almost always 6 or more café-au-lait spots can be found with at least some exceeding 1.5 cm in diameter. These are often accompanied by frecklelike spots in the axilla.
- cherry-red s. the ophthalmoscopic appearance of the normal choroid beneath the fovea centralis, appearing as a red s. surrounded by white retinal edema in central artery closure or lipid infiltration in sphingolipidosis. SYN: Tay cherry-red s..
- corneal s. SYN: macula corneae.
- Elschnig spots isolated choroidal bright yellow or red spots with black pigment flecks at their borders, seen ophthalmoscopically in advanced hypertensive retinopathy.
- focal s. the site of bombardment by electrons and emission of x-rays from the anode of an x-ray tube. SEE ALSO: focal s. size.
- Fordyce spots a condition marked by the presence of numerous small, yellowish-white bodies or granules on the inner surface and vermilion border of the lips; histologically the lesions are ectopic sebaceous glands. SYN: Fordyce disease, Fordyce granules.
- hypnogenic s. a pressure-sensitive point on the body of certain susceptible persons, which, when pressed, causes the induction of sleep.
- Koplik spots small red spots on the buccal mucous membrane, in the center of each of which may be seen, in a strong light, a minute bluish white speck; they occur early in measles (morbilli), before the skin eruption, and are regarded as a pathognomonic sign of the disease.
- milk spots 1. white plaques of hyalinized fibrous tissue situated in the epicardium overlying the right ventricle of the heart where it is not covered by lung; SYN: soldier's patches. 2. white macroscopic areas in the omentum, due to accumulation of macrophages and lymphocytes. SYN: tache laiteuse (1).
- mongolian s. any of a number of dark-bluish or mulberry-colored rounded or oval spots on the sacral region due to the ectopic presence of scattered melanocytes in the dermis. These congenital lesions are frequent in black, native American, and Asian children from 2 to 12 years, after which time they gradually recede; they do not disappear on pressure and are sometimes mistaken for bruises from child abuse. SYN: blue s. (2).
- rose spots characteristic exanthema of typhoid fever; 10–20 small pink papules on the lower trunk lasting a few days and leaving hyperpigmentation.
- Roth spots a round white retina s. surrounded by hemorrhage in bacterial endocarditis, and in other retinal hemorrhagic conditions.
- Soemmerring s. SYN: macula of retina.
- Tay cherry-red s. SYN: cherry-red s..
- temperature s. one of a number of definitely arranged spots on the skin sensitive to heat and cold, but not to ordinary pressure or pain stimuli.
- tendinous s. SYN: macula albida.
- Trousseau s. SYN: meningitic streak.
- white s. SYN: macula albida.
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a) a circumscribed surface lesion of disease (as measles)
b) a circumscribed abnormality in an organ seen by means of X-rays or an instrument <X-rays revealed a \spot on the lung>
spot vi, spot·ted; spot·ting to experience abnormal and sporadic bleeding in small amounts from the uterus
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(spot) a circumscribed area distinguished by its color, such as on the skin; see also dot, macule, and patch.Medical dictionary. 2011.