clinical features

Last reviewed 01/2018

• often present in early childhood (when the child is one or two years of age) when the parent notices a lump. They may present later in life because they may take take time to grow sufficiently to be noticed.

• commonly the cysts occur in the midline of the scalp, the neck, and the lower jaw (often at the outer edge of the eyebrow where the maxillar facial process fuses with the frontal process - external angular dermoid).

• the lesion is usually about 1 cm in diameter. It is smooth, spherical and not attached to the skin (this differentiates it from an epidermal cyst). Usually it is hard.