Demographic features and histopathological diagnosis in primary eyelid tumors: results over 19 years from a tertiary center in Ankara, Turkey.

Aim: To evaluate the demographic features, location, and histopathologic results in primary eyelid tumors.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients with primary eyelid tumor diagnosed and treated between November 1997 and June 2016 on our service.

Results: Nine hundred and eleven lesions from 874 patients were included in this study. Four hundred and forty-six (51.0%) of the patients were females and 428 (49.0%) were males. The mean age was 51.0y (range: 3mo-94y). The lesions were located in the upper eyelid (418 cases, 45.9%), lower eyelid (378 cases, 41.5%), medial canthus (89 cases, 9.8%), and lateral canthus (26 cases, 2.8%). Four hundred and seventy (51.6%) lesions were located on the right side and 441 (48.4%) on the left. Of the eyelid lesions, 666 (73.1%) were benign, 230 (25.2%) malignant, and 15 (1.6%) premalignant. When the eyelid tumors were classified according to their tissue or cell of origin, 527 (57.8%) of the lesions were found to be epidermal, 171 (18.8%) adnexal, 131 (14.4%) inflammatory and infectious, and 65 (7.1%) stromal. The most common benign lesions were squamous cell papilloma (139 lesions, 15.2%), intradermal nevus (97 lesions, 10.6%), epidermoid inclusion cysts (78 lesions, 8.6%), seborrheic keratosis (60 lesions, 6.6%), and inflammatory masses (59 lesions, 6.5%). Basal cell carcinoma was the most common malignant tumor (191 lesions, 21.0%) followed by squamous cell carcinoma (16 lesions, 1.8%), sebaceous carcinoma (14 lesions, 1.5%), and malignant melanoma (5 lesions, 0.5%).

Conclusion: In this study, 73.1% of eyelid lesions are benign and the remaining 26.9% are premalignant and malignant. Basal cell carcinoma is the most common tumor among all histopathological diagnosis followed by squamous papilloma.