Clinical analysis of auricular benign masses.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Auricular masses are growths on the outer ear that have not been well characterized clinically. We assessed the clinical nature and treatment of auricular benign masses in patients at our institution.


SUBJECTS AND METHODS
We retrospectively identified 63 patients with auricular benign masses who underwent excision and biopsy from May 1970 to April 2011. We determined the site, cause, size, pathology and postoperative results of these auricular masses.


RESULTS
Auricular benign masses occurred most commonly on the lobule (44.4%), followed by the tragus (20.6%), crus of helix (11.1%), triangular fossa (6.3%), crus of antihelix-antitragus (3.1%) and scapha (1.5%). Pathologically, the most common type of auricular mass was epidermal cysts (25.3%), followed by hypertrophic scar (12.6%), fibrous tissue-accessory ear (9.5%), chronic inflammation-nevus (7.9%), keloid (6.3%), hemangioma (4.7%), and skin tag-seborrheic keratosis (3.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
The most common site of auricular benign masses is the lobule and most common pathology is an epidermal cyst.
['Jung|Su Young|SY|', 'Kim|Myung Gu|MG|', 'Boo|Sung Hyun|SH|', 'Yeo|Eun Kyung|EK|', 'Kwon|Chul|C|', 'Lee|Sun Kyu|SK|', 'Yeo|Seung Geun|SG|']
Auricular mass External ear mass