The benign acanthomas

An important, yet neglected, problem in dermatopathology, is the evaluation of the benign acanthomas, the benign tumors of epidermal keratinocytes. The benign acanthomas may be simulated by lesions which are not benign (e.g. actinic keratosis), not tumors (e.g. normal plantar skin), or are not epidermal (e.g. dermatofibroma). In addition to normal (epidermoid) keratinization (e.g., seborrheic keratosis and related conditions), the variants of the benign acanthomas show a wide range of aberrant keratinization, including epidermolytic hyperkeratosis (epidermolytic acanthoma), dyskeratosis (warty dyskeratoma), acantholysis (acantholytic acanthoma), cornoid lamellation (porokeratosis), lichenoid hyperplasia (lichen planus-like keratosis), and absence of keratinization (clear cell acanthoma).