Woman presenting with a postauricular mass

Postauricular epidermal cyst

“…Differential diagnosis of a postauricular swelling include congenital etiologies such as first branchial cleft cysts, sinuses, and torticollis pseudotumor; acquired cysts after ear piercing; inflammatory conditions such as complicated mastoiditis and subperiosteal abscess; reactive, granulomatous or neoplastic/metastatic lymph node enlargements; reactive bone formation, bony fracture segment or calcified hematoma in patients with a history of trauma; cholesteatomas presenting in the postauricular area after erosion of the mastoid cortex; neoplasms involving the mastoid bone, facial nerve, sternocleidomastoid muscle, jugular paraganglia, and the tail of the parotid gland; and benign cutaneous masses such as lipoma, epidermoid/dermoid cysts, pilar cysts, and sebaceous cysts. [1][2][3][4] Epidermoid cysts result from the proliferation of epidermal cells within the dermis or superficial subcutaneous tissue. As true cysts, epidermoid cysts have an epithelial lining and the origin of the epidermal cells is thought to be the follicular infundibulum of the hair shafts.…”

An insidious preauricular sinus presenting as an infected postauricular cyst

“…However, they usually result in auditory and vestibular symptoms as well. A negative history of local surgery or trauma rules out the aetiologies such as reactive bone formation, bony fracture segment and calcified haematoma (7). Lipoma is another possible diagnosis, but this is typically a slow‐growing asymptomatic mass that is rarely found in the postauricular area.…”