title: Benign cephalic histiocytosis in a British-African child.
abstract: A 14-month-old British-African child presented with an asymptomatic eruption localized to her face and upper limbs. At the age of 17 months the eruption had started to spontaneously regress. Histologic examination of a biopsy specimen from a papular lesion on the arm showed a histiocytic infiltrate in the superficial dermis. Immunohistochemical studies showed negative staining for the Langerhans cell markers, CD1a and S-100 protein, while staining for the macrophage/histiocytic markers, CD68 and factor XIIIa, were positive. The clinical and histologic features in this patient are consistent with the rare, non-Langerhans, histiocytic disorder known as benign cephalic histiocytosis. As far as we are aware, this represents the first published occurrence in a child of African origin, emphasizing the widespread nature of this condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Whittington Hospital, London, England.
authors.forename: Ophelia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dadzie
authors.forename: Debbie
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hopster
authors.forename: Rino
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cerio
authors.forename: Riadh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wakeel
mesh_terms: D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D015614:Histiocytosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009549:Nigeria / Q000208:ethnology; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous