Of periauricular pits and sinuses: understanding the masqueraders

1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, India. 2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, West Bengal, India. Corresponding author: Mainak Dutta – Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head-Neck Surgery, Medical College and Hospital, 88, College Street – Zip Code: 700073 – Kolkata (WB), India – Phone: +91 9830737587 – E-mail: [email protected] Received on: Nov 4, 2013 – Accepted on: Jan 13, 2014 DOI: 10.1590/S1679-45082014AI3020 An eight-year-old girl presented with complaints of intermittent discharge from a pit situated in the medial surface of right pinna since early childhood. The discharge was scanty, foul-smelling and mucoid, and occasionally purulent. The frequency had increased in the last year with development of a swelling just below the pit that often got inflamed and caused pain. On examination, an opening was noted just above the lobule leading to a swelling that reached the post-auricular sulcus (Figure 1). An area of scarring and pigmentation in the lateral surface of the pinna in immediate vicinity to the external auditory canal (EAC) − reminiscent of Figure 1. A pit (arrow) leading to a cystic cavity reaching the post-auricular groove could be seen here, situated in the lower part of the medial surface of right pinna just superior to the lobule