A Case of Primary Mucinous Adenocarcinoma of the Upper Eyelid

Seo, Hee Chun; Ahn, Min; Cho, Nam Chun; Lee, Dong Ouk

Abstract

PURPOSE: We report a case of a recurrent, non-tender mass on the right upper eyelid, which was completely excised and histologically diagnosed as mucinous adenocarcinoma from the eccrine gland.
METHODS
A 67-year-old man presented with a non-tender subcutaneous mass on the right upper eyelid, which had developed 6 months prior to presentation. A similar eyelid mass had also been removed one year earlier. We surgically removed some skin and the mass and conducted a biopsy. During the operation, the biopsy revealed it to be mucinous adenocarcinomas, and thus it was removed by Mohs' excision technique with a clean margin.
RESULTS
A mucinous adenocarcinoma from the eccrine gland was diagnosed by a histologic examination of the removed mass. A whole-body examination was conducted to determine if the lesion was primary or metastatic, and the results indicated it was primary lesion. There was no evidence of other malignant lesions, and a 21-month follow-up is currently being conducted in case of recurrence.
CONCLUSIONS
Primary mucinous adenocarcinoma occuring on an eyelids is a very rare malignant tumor. Complete mass removal is well known to be the best treatment. For differential diagnosis, various examinations of the entire body are required in case the lesion had metastasized from the breast, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, ovaries, lacrimal glands and so on. Periodical postoperative examinations must be thoroughly performed, since the probability of recurrence is about 30%.