Molluscum Contagiosum on the Sole of the Foot in an Elderly Patient: A Case Report
Challenging differential diagnosis, Rare disease
Lee Firestone, Gene Mirkin, Xingpei Hao
Department of Podiatry, Foot and Ankle Specialists of The Mid-Atlantic, LLC, Rockville, MD, USA
Am J Case Rep 2020; 21:e923777
DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.923777
Available online: 2020-08-13
Published: 2020-09-17
BACKGROUND:
Molluscum contagiosum (MC) presents as skin-colored, dome-shaped, umbilicated papules or nodules on the skin and is caused by the MC virus. It predominantly occurs in school-aged children and mainly affects the face, neck, and central regions of the body but, rarely, the soles of feet are affected. Here, we describe the case of a 71-year-old woman with MC on the plantar heel.
CASE REPORT:
A 71-year-old woman presented with a 3-mm, pale, pearly, round, verrucoid lesion along the plantar central aspect of the left heel, present for 1 week. Histopathological evaluation of the excisional biopsy revealed several clusters of hyperplastic keratinocytes containing lobulated, eosinophilic, intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies inverted into the dermal layer, which was diagnosed as MC.
CONCLUSIONS:
MC on the plantar heel is a rare, atypical presentation that needs to be differentiated from viral warts and other diseases.
Keywords: Diagnosis, Differential, Molluscum Contagiosum, Pathology, Surgical, Therapeutics
