[Spectacle-frame acanthoma. Review of the literature and histopathological diagnosis versus chondrodermatitis nodularis helicis (author's transl)].

Five cases of spectacle-frame acanthoma are reported; four were retro-auricular (three unilateral; one bilateral) and one was present on the left side of the nose. Clinical aspects of the lesions are described by the light of all the other cases that have been previously reported in the literature. Histopathological features are compared to those encountered in chondrodermatitis nodularis helicis for which a frictional origin may also be suspected. In the vast majority of cases, spontaneous resolution is obtained when responsible spectacle frames are removed whereas a few lesions persist indefinitely despite of the fact that corrective measures are applied, on the contrary to what has been reported in previous papers. Apart from removing spectacles, these few cases needed surgical excision for a complete cure. Anatomo-clinical confrontations seem to indicate that those persistent lesions are completely fissured acanthomas.