Primary mucinous sweat gland carcinoma of the eyelid

A 76-year-old woman had a slowly enlarging lesion of the right lower eyelid. After obtaining incisional biopsy results consistent with adenocarcinoma, we removed the tumor and made a final diagnosis of primary mucinous adenocarcinoma of the sweat gland. The defect was repaired using ipsilateral upper lid transpositional tarso-conjunctival and skin-muscle flaps. No evidence of recurrence or metastasis was noted 42 months postoperatively. Consideration of such tumors is clinically important, since they have full metastatic potential. We therefore suggest consideration of sweat gland primary mucinous adenocarcinoma in the differential diagnosis of red or violaceous eyelid masses.