Nodular Mass in the Earlobe of an 18-Month-Old Girl

Abstract

n 18-month-old girl presented with a 1-year history of a slow-growing mass in the right earlobe. There were no symptoms, such as tenderness or discharge, associated with the mass. She had no history of underlying medical disease or trauma. On physical examination, a 1.5 × 1.0–cm, firm, nodular, angulated, pinkish, nontender mass was observed in the posterior aspect of the right earlobe (Figure, A). The skin over the mass was semitransparent, and the mass moved freely beneath the skin. Under suspicion of a tumorous lesion, complete excision was performed after the patient received general anesthesia. Histopathologic findings were characteristic for 2 cell types; basaloid cells with a nucleus were present in the periphery, and ghost cells without a nucleus were present in the center (Figure, B). Six months after surgery, the wound had healed well, and there has been no recurrence.