The Clinicopathological Spectrum of Trichoepitheliomas: A Retrospective Descriptive Study

This retrospective descriptive study examined 33 biopsy specimens from 30 patients diagnosed with trichoepithelioma (TE) between 2001 and 2011. The study found that 20 patients had solitary TE, while 9 had multiple TEs, and 1 had multiple linear TEs. Multiple TEs typically began developing at an average age of 17.3 years and were often misdiagnosed as tuberous sclerosis. A cribriform histopathological tumor pattern was observed in 80% of multiple TE cases, compared to only 10% in solitary TEs. The study highlighted the difficulty in distinguishing solitary TE from basal cell carcinoma and noted that the findings might not be generalizable to the broader South African population due to the specific cohort's unknown ethnic and geographic origins.