Trial Information

Use of Otoscope as a Non-Invasive Tool for Diagnosis of Pilomatricoma

Pilomatricoma is a benign tumor that presents as a 3-30mm firm, solitary, deep dermal or
subcutaneous tumor on the head, neck, or upper extremities. The clinical diagnosis is often
made by the firm, sometimes rock hard texture of the skin. The diagnosis can be confirmed
by a skin biopsy and/or excision of the lesion. We have recently noted that pilomatricomas
appear as a black mass in the skin when the lesion is transilluminated by placing the light
of a fiberoptic otoscope adjacent to the skin lesion. We would like to confirm our
impression by a prospective study using transillumination to examine subcutaneous tumors in
the skin. Pilomatricoma is also known as a benign calcifying or calcified epithelioma,
pilomatrixoma, or a calcifying epithelioma of Malherbe.