Surgical excision of pilomatrixoma of the head and neck: a retrospective review of 26 cases.

The objective of this article is to describe our experiences in treating patients for head and neck pilomatrixoma at our institution during a 5-year period and to compare our findings with previously published results. To that end, we conducted a 5-year retrospective chart review to identify those patients who had a confirmed histopathologic diagnosis of pilomatrixoma involving the head and neck area. We reviewed medical records for presenting signs and symptoms, lesion characteristics, treatment rendered, and outcomes. We identified 26 patients, aged 6 to 77 (mean: 33), who met the criteria for inclusion in our study. All had been treated for solitary tumors with simple surgical excision and closure. We found no reported adverse outcomes and no tumor recurrences at the surgical sites. These findings support the use of simple surgical excision as the treatment of choice for these tumors.