MULTIPLE BENIGN CYSTIC EPITHELIOMA (EPITHELIOMA ADENOIDES CYSTICUM)

Abstract

Multiple benign cystic epthelioma has occurred so seldom and has provoked so much discussion concerning its classification and relation to other epithelial tumor growths, that the presentation of a typical case and a résumé of the literature is warranted. This rare condition has been accepted as a congenital abnormality occurring almost exclusively in females, appearing at puberty or in childhood and characterized by small, round, multiple tumor growths, elevating the skin and having a symmetrical distribution on the face, neck and thorax. Independently and practically simultaneously in 1892, Fordyce¹and Brooke²presented cases with the first complete description, classification and diagnosis of this cutaneous disease, which the former called multiple benign cystic epithelioma, and the latter, epithelioma adenoides cysticum. Cases with the same histologic pictures had been published previously under the titles of lymphangioma tuberosum multiplex and adenoma sebaceum. Since that time numerous cases have been