A Clinical and Histopathological Study of Epidermal Cysts in the Province of Chungcheongnam-do / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Epidermal cysts are the most common type of epithelial cysts of the skin. There have been a few studies to determine the clinical and histopathological characteristics of epidermal cysts. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics of 243 cases of epidermal cysts in the province of Chungcheongnam-do. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated the clinical and histopathological features of 243 cases of epidermal cysts at Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Cheonan from January 1998 to December 2008. RESULTS: The ratio of male to female patients was 1.71. The age distribution of subjects at the first visit ranged from 11 months to 83 years. The most common site of occurrence was the face. The most common histopathological change of the cystic wall was atrophy. Cystic contents such as calcifications, parakeratotic cells, red blood cells as well as keratinous material were observed. We found stromal changes such as foreign body reactions, fibrosis and granulation tissue. Forty-seven cases were clinically misdiagnosed as other diseases, but subsequent histopathological findings demonstrated the presence of epidermal cysts. No particular relationship was found among duration, size, atrophy of the cyst wall and calcification of keratin material. CONCLUSION: We reaffirmed contiguity with previous reports. In addition, we found some cases could have been clinically misdiagnosed as other diseases. In addition, there was a poor relationship between the duration of the lesion and other variables such as the size of the lesion, the degree of atrophy of the cyst wall and calcification of keratin material.