Acquired elastotic hemangioma: A diagnosis to keep in mind

A 64-year-old woman presented with an asymptomatic, erythematous slowly growing nodule of the cheek. Her family and medical history were unremarkable. Physical examination revealed erythematous, well-defined, non tender, slightly elevated, non blanching plaques of the right cheek. It measured 0.7cm in diameter. The suggested clinical diagnosis was basal cell carcinoma. Local surgical excision of the lesion was performed. Histopathologic examination revealed a band-like proliferation of capillary blood vessels involving mainly the superficial dermis and arranged parallel to the epidermis. No cytologic atypia or mitotic figures were seen. The neoformed capillaries were surrounded or intermingled with collagen bundle showing intense solar elastosis (Figs. 1 3). Inflammation was absent. On immunohistochemichemistry, the neoplastic endothelial cells of the neoformed capillaries were strongly positive for CD34 (Fig. 4). No staining with HHV8 was found. A peripheral ring of actin-positive (Alpha smooth muscle) pericytes were observed (Fig. 5). ABSTRACT