Cutaneous horn on the upper lip associated with squamous cell carcinoma

Cutaneous horn is a protrusion from the skin consisting of cornified material. It usually appears on exposed skin areas especially on the head and neck. A 70-year-old woman applied to our clinic with a hard, conical, black-grey 2 cm lesion on the upper lip. On physical examination, there was no palpable lymph node in the neck other than the lesion. Diagnosed to be cutaneous horn, the lesion was completely removed together with 4-5 mm surrounding tissues under local anaesthesia. The histopathological examination reported this lesion to be cutaneous horn with well differentiated squamous cell carcinoma at its base. No recurrences or metastasis were detected within a follow-up period of 5.5 years. It should be kept in mind that cutaneous horns may be associated with premalignant and malignant lesions at the base, masking numerous conditions.