title: Diagnosis of pilomatricoma using an otoscope.
abstract: Pilomatricoma is a benign tumor that presents as a 3-30-mm, firm, solitary, deep, dermal or subcutaneous tumor on the head, neck, or upper extremities. The clinical diagnosis is often made by the firm, sometimes rock-hard texture of the skin. The diagnosis can be confirmed by a skin biopsy or excision of the lesion. We have recently noted that pilomatricomas appear as a black mass in the skin when the lesion is transilluminated by placing the light of a fiberoptic otoscope adjacent to the skin lesion. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating preoperative diagnosis of pilomatricoma by transilluminating the lesion with an otoscope.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94063, USA.
authors.forename: Odmara L
authors.initials: OL
authors.lastname: Barreto-Chang
authors.forename: Emily S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gorell
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Yamaguma
authors.forename: Alfred T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Lane
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D046169:Dermoscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005153:Facial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006201:Hair Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D019720:Otoscopes; D018296:Pilomatrixoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*