Annular elastolytic sarcoidosis of the face

We report a case of facial annular lesions in a non-diabetic, Japanese woman aged 78, the histopathological study of which showed noncaseating, epithelioid cell granuloma with multinucleated giant cells. Together with the aberrant laboratory data, these clinical and histopathological findings were considered to be compatible with those of sarcoidosis, but elastic tissue stain disclosed the existence of elastolytic changes which were clinically and histopathologically similar to those found in actinic granuloma or annular elastolytic giant cell granuloma. Based on a review of the literature, we believe that several annular elastolytic granulomatous diseases of the face form a disease spectrum, some of which are identified with intermediate features of these three diseases.