Granuloma faciale: a clinicopathological study of 11 cases.

BACKGROUND

Granuloma faciale is an uncommon disease of unknown etiology that is often misdiagnosed clinically and by general pathologists.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the clinicopathological features of a series of patients with granuloma faciale.

METHODS

Eleven patients diagnosed with granuloma faciale between 1990 and 2002 were included in the study.

RESULTS

Granuloma faciale was diagnosed in 11 patients (9 male and 2 female, mean age 53.45 years). All of them presented facial cutaneous lesions and two of them also developed extrafacial lesions. Histologically, in 8 cases the infiltrate was limited to the upper half of the dermis. Two specimens showed fibrinoid necrosis. Concentric fibrosis around small blood vessels was demonstrated in 5 patients.

CONCLUSION

The presence of abundant fibrosis in 5 of our patients similar to that observed in erythema elevatum diutinum suggests that granuloma faciale and erythema elevatum diutinum may be produced by similar or the same pathogenic mechanism.