History:

A 28 year-old Caucasian female presented with an asymptomatic but cosmetically distressing scalp nodule. The patient indicated that the nodule had been present at least since age 16, but had recently increased to its present size. There were no palpable regional lymph nodes. The lesion was excised, in toto. Histology was typical for a syringocystadenoma papilliferum. These are benign tumors, often arising at or near birth or in adolescence. Although they are benign, in about 10% of cases malignant degenration can occur. Most scalp lesions, but not all, arise in conjunction with a nevus sebaceous; however, there was no evidence of an associated nevus sebaceous in this case. Treatment of choice is complete excision.