[Childhood Wells syndrome]

A 12-year-old diabetic girl is reported who developed faintly violaceous nodules on the back of the right thigh. These spread to the posterior aspect of the left thigh and to both legs. She complained of some muscular weakness. A diagnosis of cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa was considered. No blood eosinophilia was detected. Skin biopsy disclosed scattered dermal foci of eosinophilic and granular degeneration of collagen with a palisade of histiocytes and eosinophils in a flame configuration. The lesions did not correspond to the sites of insulin injections. Eight childhood cases of eosinophilic cellulitis were found in the literature, all of them in males. The specificity and meaning of the flame configuration are discussed.