Open AccessCutaneous horn: A mask to underlying malignancy
Author(s) -
Rashmi G S Phulari,
Rajendrasinh Rathore,
Trupti Pramod Talegaon,
Aekta Shah
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of oral and maxillofacial pathology/journal of oral and maxillofacial pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.455
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1998-393X
pISSN - 0973-029X
DOI - 10.4103/jomfp.jomfp_156_17
Subject(s) - french horn , malignancy , dermatology , dorsum , skin cancer , basal cell carcinoma , medicine , basal cell , anatomy , pathology , cancer , physics , acoustics
Cutaneous horns ( cornu cutaneum ) are uncommon lesions consisting of keratotic material resembling that of an animal horn. It is a conical- or cylindrical-shaped excessive hyperkeratosis of variable size ranging from few millimeters to several centimeters with a variable in size and shape, such as cylindrical, conical, pointed, transversely or longitudinally corrugated, or curved like a ram's horn. The lesions typically occur in sun-exposed areas, particularly the face, ear, nose, forearms and dorsum of hands. Even though 60% of the cutaneous horns are benign in nature, the possibility of skin cancer should always be kept in mind. The clinical diagnosis includes various benign and malignant lesions at its base. Lesions associated with cutaneous horn are keratosis, sebaceous molluscum, verruca, trichilemmal, Bowen's disease, epidermoid carcinoma, malignant melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. Herewith, we report a case of cutaneous horn on the upper lip vermillion masking the underlying malignancy at its base.