NODULAR SUBEPIDERMAL FIBROSIS (DERMATOFIBROMA VERSUS HISTIOCYTOMA)

Abstract

THIS article is based on clinical and pathologic studies of 95 patients who had 1 or more lesions of nodular subepidermal fibrosis. Unna,¹ in 1896, first described the condition as "fibroma simplex." It has become widely known as "dermatofibroma lenticulare"² or as "nodular subepidermal fibrosis."³ For many years a fibroblastic, and possibly traumatic, origin of the condition was accepted. However, in articles published from 1931 to 1933, Woringer and his associates⁴ questioned the fibroblastic origin of all these lesions and described what Woringer believed formed a separate entity under the title "histiocytoma." He and his associates found phagocytic reticuloendothelial cells. Their observations were supported by the studies of Senear and Caro⁵ with the use of vital stains. More recently, in 1943, Gross and Wolbach⁶ described a series of cases similar to those described by Woringer and his associates but advanced the belief that the