Involvement of the tongue by lymphomatoid papulosis

We report on a case of lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP) with involvement of the tongue. The patient was a 34-year-old Japanese man. Three reddish, centrally depressed, slightly elevated nodules were evident on the dorsal tongue, along with lesions elsewhere on the skin. One of them was biopsied and exhibited a superficial and deep, perivascular and interstitial mixed cellular infiltrate including atypical lymphoid cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and histiocytes. The patient also showed rhythmical recurrence of reddish papules and ulcerated nodules on the trunk, extremities, and anogenital area. Histologically, these papules showed a dense, wedge-shaped mixed cellular infiltrate in the dermis, which included medium and large atypical lymphoid cells, lymphocytes, neutrophils, and histiocytes. Immunoperoxidase staining for CD30 was positive in the cell membrane and cytoplasm of the atypical cells. We could not find other reports of LyP involving the tongue. Systemic treatment with interferon (INF)-alpha2a was dramatically effective in inhibiting recurrence of the eruption.