Cysticercosis of the eyelid.

A 14-year-old girl had a four-month history of a painless, enlarging mass in the right upper eyelid. Histopathologic examination revealed the cystic mass to be Cysticercus cellulosae, the larval form of Taenia solium. This patient had been in Vietnam and Laos several years previously and, while there, developed a flu-like syndrome. Despite the fact that she was asymptomatic for the two years preceding her clinical examination, the histopathologic diagnosis of C cellulosae prompted an extensive medical and neurologic work-up to rule out the possibility that the patient harbored the adult tapeworm or other larval forms. Fortunately, the results of this survey were negative.