Purpose: To determine the type and frequency of the neoplasms on the lachrymal caruncle and to compare the results with other published case series.
Methods: Retrospective study of forty cases of lesions of the lachrymal caruncle, surgically treated during a 13-year period (1991-2003) are presented. There were 19 females and 21 males. The mean age was 42.1, SD 19.5 years.
Results: Ten different histopathologic types of lesions were found. The most frequent lesion was the nevus (40%), and the second, the papilloma (30%). Thirty-seven neoplasms (92.5%) were benign, 2 (5%) premalignant and 1 (2.5%) malignant. The clinical diagnosis was accurate in 87.5% of the cases.
Conclusion: In this case series, we confirm the low frequency of caruncular neoplasms as well as the wide variety of histopathologic types found in this location. There was a wide range of ages and we did not find any evident sex predominance. Malignant lesions were uncommon, with only one case of basal cell carcinoma. Our results are similar to those of other case series.