A case report of equivocal neoplasm originating from an apocrine gland on the eyelid

Abstract

We report a rare case of apocrine neoplasm with malignant potential. The patient, a 29-year-old man, had a nodule 1 cm in diameter on his left upper eyelid which had been growing slowly for several years. It was a cystic lesion, consisting of neoplastic cells of probable apocrine gland or Moll's gland origin. This opinion was based on the histological characteristics, which included eosinophilic cytoplasm accompanied with decapitation secretion, iron granules, and granular depositions which were stained positively with periodic acid-Schiff, with and without diastase digestion. Ferritin was found in their cytoplasm, a feature that has not been reported. It was uncertain whether the neoplasm was benign or malignant, because the cells showed nuclear atypia, characterized by variation in size and hyperchromasia, but lacked the histological features of malignancy, including infiltration into the adjacent tissue and mitosis.