Trichilemmal carcinoma - a rare cutaneous malignancy: report of two cases.

Abstract

The trichilemmal carcinoma is a rare low-grade malignant lesion originating from hair follicle cells that usually occurs on sun-exposed skin of older individuals. A differential diagnostic is required with other skin carcinomas. We report two cases of trichilemmal carcinoma admitted at the Emergency University Hospital of Bucharest, Romania, in 2012, one of these cases being localized in the periocular area and the other one resembling a cutaneous horn. These cases present several unusual aspects that are rarely described in the literature namely the site of the tumor which in the eyelid, development of a cutaneous horn, IHC tests which revealed EMA (epithelial membrane antigen) positivity in tumor cells. Considering that this type of tumor seldom develops metastases or local recurrences, and all the cases had free margins, there was no adjuvant therapy.