Pilomatrixoma in childhood

Pilomatrixoma is a benign tumor of the skin. Malignant transformation can be seen rarely in the small percentage.

The aim of the following study is to attract attention to this tumor in the differential diagnosis because if it is not kept in mind it leads to both unnecessary interventions and treatments for the patient.

From January 2006 to December 2012, 8 patients with pilomatrixoma were evaluated retrospectively.

A total of 8 pediatric pilomatrixoma patients' charts were reviewed retrospectively. None of the patients had familial feature. Of 8 patients 4 (50%) were male and 4 (50%) were female. The patients' age ranged from 2-18 years with a median age 11.5 years. All of the patients were admitted with the complaint of swelling at the lesion site. Two patients have multiple lesions, one of them has two and other has three lesions. A total of 11 lesion were detected in our 8 patients that 5 of them were located upper extremities (46%), 3 of them cervical region (27%), 2 of them on occipital region (18%) and 1 of them in the sacral region (9%). All lesions were excised completely. Until now, no patient had evidence of recurrence or malignant disease.

As a result pilomatrixoma is a benign tumor, with atypical forms and unfortunately, no tumor-specific diagnostic feature except of a careful histopathological examination is available.