Cutaneous pseudolymphoma in association with molluscum contagiosum

Cutaneous pseudolymphomas have been defined as benign lymphocytic infiltrates of the skin that simulate cutaneous lymphoma clinically or histologically. The authors report on a 2-year-old boy with a lesion of molluscum contagiosum in which the inflammatory infiltrate that surrounded a cystlike structure containing molluscum bodies consisted of atypical hyperchromatic mononuclear cells with abundant mitotic figures, some of them atypical. Immunohistochemical investigation demonstrated that the infiltrate was predominantly composed of T lymphocytes. A previous report documented pseudoleukemia cutis associated with molluscum contagiosum, and this report expands the spectrum of histopathologic pseudomalignancies that may be seen in lesions of molluscum contagiosum.