Facial swelling: an atypical presentation of cutaneous lymphoma

Abstract

Background: Cutaneous lymphomas (primary and secondary lymphomas involving the skin) are a heterogeneous group with various clinical manifestations, histological features, and prognoses.

Methods: We describe eight cases of cutaneous lymphoma presenting with facial swelling.

Results: Our case series included three cases of primary cutaneous extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, one case of secondary cutaneous extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, one case of subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma, one case of cutaneous CD4+ small/medium pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma, and two cases of peripheral T-cell lymphoma (unspecified).

Conclusions: This collection of cases and literature review emphasizes the need for clinical suspicion of cutaneous lymphoma in the differential diagnosis of patients with refractory facial swelling.