Masquerades less known: Case report of benign hair follicle tumors

ABSTRACT

Benign eyelid tumors derived from hair follicles are rare and frequently misdiagnosed as basal-cell carcinoma when evaluation is based on clinical evidence alone. The discrepancy between the clinical aspect and the histological diagnosis can be as high as 30–40%, even for experienced clinicians. Unfortunately, this masquerade is not only clinical but also histological. Patients may be subjected to unnecessarily extensive surgery. We present a case report of three patients clinically diagnosed as malignancy but histopathologically proven as benign hair follicle tumors.