Amputation neuromas of the great auricular nerve after rhytidectomy

A 56-year-old woman presented with complaints of a tender nodule in the anterior triangle of her left neck. The nodule, which was easily palpable through the skin, was approximately 1 x 1.5 cm in size and was, at first, thought to be a lymph node. At operation, a large neuroma of the distal terminus of the transected great auricular nerve was found. Significantly, the patient had undergone a full rhytidectomy some 9 years previously, and it appears that the neuroma was a consequence of iatrogenic injury to the nerve at that time.