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Case Reports
. 2025 Feb 5;17(2):e78542.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.78542. eCollection 2025 Feb.

Bowen's Disease of the Labia Majora: A Rare Case

Manish Kumar  1 , Zeenat S Imam  2 , Shashi S Pawar  1 , Sunny Singh  1 , Prabhjot S Ahluwalia  1 , Sudhir K Singh  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Bowen's Disease of the Labia Majora: A Rare Case

Manish Kumar et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Bowen's disease is a non-melanocytic in situ squamous cell carcinoma of the epidermis. Having a multifactorial etiology, its incidence has been found to be the highest in Caucasians. It commonly occurs as a solitary lesion in the elderly on the photoexposed areas of the skin, mainly in the head and neck region. We present a case of a single, pruritic, oozy ulcerated lesion in the left upper labia majora in a 32-year-old female for the last six months who had undergone various treatments before presenting to our institute. Excision followed by histopathological examination led to the diagnosis of Bowen's disease. Our case focuses on the potential of Bowen's disease to mimic common dermatological lesions, and therefore a high degree of suspicion assisted by histopathological examination is essential for early and rapid diagnosis, along with a multimodality approach to management.

Keywords: bowen’s disease; in situ; labia majora; rare site; squamous cell carcinoma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Preoperative status
A solitary ulcerative lesion was seen at the left labia majora upper part.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Postoperative status
Primary closure was seen after wide local excision.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Haematoxylin and eosin stain (H & E) (10X)
Full thickness keratinocyte atypia.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Haematoxylin and eosin stain (H & E) (40X)
Full thickness cellular atypia and dyskeratosis (green arrow). Adjacent area shows the normal epidermis (red arrow).
Figure 5
Figure 5. Haematoxylin and eosin stain (H & E) (40X)
Dysplastic keratinocytes with marked nuclear atypia and multinucleation (green arrow), mitosis (red arrow), and dyskeratosis (blue arrow).
Figure 6
Figure 6. Haematoxylin and eosin stain (H & E) (40X)
Dysplastic keratinocytes with marked atypia (red arrow) along with mitosis (yellow arrow).
Figure 7
Figure 7. p16 (40X)
Strong positive staining of all atypical cells.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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