Otophyma: a rare benign clinical entity mimicking leprosy.

Otophyma is a rare condition characterized by edematous deformation of the ear that is considered to be the end-stage of an inflammatory process such as rosacea and eczema. This report illustrates a case in an elderly male, originally thought to have leprosy. Biopsy revealed a nodular infiltration of inflammatory cells around adnexal structures and an intraepidermal cyst. No acid-fast organisms were identified. We present a patient who is of a different ethnic group than usually seen with this disease and provide a review of the clinical presentation, histopathological features, and management of this rare condition.

Bilateral milia en plaque in a 6-year-old Chinese boy.

Milia en plaque is a rare variant of miliathat occurs spontaneously on an erythematous base without identifiable causative factors. Approximately 40 cases have been recorded in the literature. Most occurred in the periauricular area, affected middle-aged patients, and showed a predilection for women. Here, we report a case of milia en plaque on the bilateral posterior helices in a 6-year-old Chinese boy.

Ophthalmic presentation of epidermoid cysts in an African community.

This retrospective study reviews the clinical and histopathological features of ocular epidermoid cyst. The 30-year laboratory records of all the patients of the Igbo ethnic group, whose surgical specimens were received at a central pathology laboratory service in south-eastern Nigeria, West Africa, were reviewed. The cases with the histopathologic diagnosis of epidermoid cyst involving ocular tissues were reviewed. The data analyzed included age at diagnosis, sex, location and size of cyst, clinical description of lesion and operative diagnosis. There were eighteen patients. Ten (55.6%) of these were males and 8 (44.4%) were females. Nearly three-quarters were below the age of 20 years. The cyst was present from birth in 4 (22.2%) patients and was acquired in the rest. It occurred on the external angle of the orbit in 7 patients; on the bulbar conjunctiva in 4 patients; in the lower fornix, upper lid and medial canthus in two patients each; and on the lower lid in one patient. There was no correct diagnosis of epidermoid cyst clinically, the most common misdiagnoses being dermoid cyst (55.6%) and conjunctival cyst (16.7%). Accordingly, epidermoid cyst should be included in the differential diagnosis of cystic lesions showing ophthalmic presentation.