Calcinosis cutis is an abnormal deposition of calcium in the skin or subcutaneous tissue and can be categorized into five subgroups: dystrophic, metastatic, iatrogenic, calciphylaxis, and idiopathic. 1,2 Subepidermal calcified nodules (SCN) are an uncommon form of idiopathic calcinosis cutis that typically presents on children's faces as whitish, yellow papules. 3,4 (Figure 1). They are often mistaken for verrucae or molluscum. 3,5 However, subepidermal calcified nodules are a distinct benign entity and can be treated by excision. 6,7 We present a literature review of current SCN case reports.
| ME THODSA literature review was conducted on PubMed using the terminology "subepidermal calcified nodule" and "idiopathic calcinosis cutis." The search occurred on March 19, 2020, was not limited by date, and resulted in 268 journal articles. A total of 227 articles were excluded from data analysis due to the topic being unrelated to subepidermal calcified nodules (n = 219), unavailability of full text (n = 4), unavailability of article in English (n = 3), or lack of patient data (n = 2). The remaining 39 case reports and series were analyzed. The following data were extracted: age of patients, sex of patients, presence of systemic disease, location of lesion(s), maximum size of lesion(s), number of lesion(s), duration of lesion(s), symptoms, differential diagnoses, histopathological findings, and treatment(s) (Table 1).
| RE SULTS
| DemographicsA total of 109 patients (male = 70, female = 39) with median (IQR) age of 12 (10.8) were reported with subepidermal calcified nodules, which were confirmed by biopsy. Of these, 73 patients were pediatric (Pd), age < 18, and 16 patients were adults (Ad), age ≥ 18, and 20 patients' ages were not noted (NN). Median (IQR) age was 10.5 (9.0) and 40 (53.5) for the pediatric and adult populations, respectively. Most patients (96%; Pd = 71, Ad = 15, NN = 20) did not have any systemic diseases (Table 1).