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Pilomatrixoma, calcifying epithelioma, is a benign neoplasm that arises from hair follicle matrix cells and a common skin neoplasm that is often misdiagnosed as other skin condition. Our study is to examine the clinical & histopathological presentation, and management of pilomatrixoma. We conducted a 4 year retrospective study of 102 patients who had a confirmed histopathologic diagnosis of pilomatrixoma. The symptom was a slowly growing, rock-hard, solitary, superficial mass in the head(64.5%), neck(14.0%) and upper extremities(12.2%). Male-to-female ratio was 1:1.3 and the mean age of patients was 13.2 years. The mean tumor size in greatest dimension was 1.3cm and the overlying skin was slightly reddish or bluish and slightly elevated than surrounding normal skin. The excised mass was relatively well encapsulated and showed multiple nodularity and calcification. The preoperative diagnosis was accurate and consistent with the pathological diagnosis of pilomatrixoma only in 38 cases (35.5%), and the most often preoperative diagnosis were unidentified mass(43%) with inclusion of 8 other possible diagnoses. All masses were treated with surgical excision without recurrence. This entity should be considered with other neoplasm in the clinical differential diagnosis of solitary firm skin nodules, especially those on head, neck, or upper extremities in young children. The results of our study was in accordance with previously published literatures and we agree that surgical excision is the treatment of choice and the recurrence rate is low.
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