DESCRIPTION: Does the dysplastic nevus exist? Is the term dysplastic nevus appropriate? Is there a difference between dysplastic nevus and Clark's nevus? Is diagnosis of Clark's (dysplastic) nevus based on clinical features, histopathologic findings, or both? What, precisely, are the criteria for diagnosis of Clark's nevus? Does the presence of Clark's nevi actually put a person at risk for melanoma? These questions are among many explored in this book and to which cogent answers are provided. This work assesses critically, in historical perspective, the concept of dysplastic nevus from the time it first was set forth as the B-K mole in 1978. As the subtitle of the volume implies, the conclusion is reached that the concepts of melanocytic dysplasia, dysplastic nevus, and the dysplastic nevus syndrome lack legitimacy; the dysplastic nevus is a myth destined for the same fate as 'active junctional nevus.' The overarching purpose of this monograph, however, is to transcend the subject of dysplastic nevus and address the implications of acceptance of it, wholesale, during the last quarter of the Twentieth Century, for the medical profession and for a society.