Seborrheic keratosis of the external auditory canal.

An 83-year-old woman presented with a 10-year history of a slowly growing, painful mass in the left auricle and bloody otorrhea. We observed a sharply delineated, domelike blackish-brown verrucous nodular elevation with a greasy scaled surface extending from the left cavum concha into the external auditory meatus (Fig. 1). Gentle manipulation of the growth resulted in mild bleeding and caused small pieces of mass to flake off. An incisional skin biopsy was performed to rule out malignancy, and histopathologic sections revealed a papillomatous growth of basaloid cells in the epidermis with marked hyperkeratosis. The level of nuclear pleomorphism was not particularly distinctive (Fig. 2). A diagnosis of seborrheic keratosis (SK) was made. Excisional biopsy was performed, and this specimen exhibited similar characteristics, with an exophytic papillomatous growth of basaloid cells. A final diagnosis of SK was made with no evidence of malignancy. The Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital institutional review board approved this study (no. 10-111).