Bowenoid papulosis of the genitalia.

We report 34 cases of bowenoid papulosis of the genitalia. In each case, the patient had numerous reddish brown or violaceous papular lesions, some distinctly verrucoid, situated on the genitalia. Although clinically the lesions invariably appeared benign, histologic examination of specimens from the genital lesions in each patient showed changes of squamous cell carcinoma in situ. Many of the patients gave a history of preceding viral lesions on the genitalia. Therapy in all cases was conservative but thoroughly ablative. We view bowenoid papulosis as a new entity whose biologic behavior if untreated is as yet unknown.