PILOMATRICAL CARCINOMA

Pilomatricoma (calcifying epithelioma of Malherbe) is a common benign skin appendage tumor derived from primitive hair matrix cells.1,2It typically presents as a slow-growing, firm, solitary, intradermal or subcutaneous nodule less than 3 cm in diameter. Pilomatricoma occurs most frequently in the head and neck region, and over 60 percent of cases are diagnosed by age 20.1–3 A small number of aggressive variants of pilomatricoma have been reported.4–13 An additional case is reported to further alert surgeons to this aggressive variation of a usually benign neoplasm. © 1990 American Society of Plastic Surgeons.