1. chalazion
⑴ Most meibomian gland cysts are far away from the palpebral margin, and meibomian gland cysts located completely at the palpebral margin are rare. On the contrary, cancer tissue is easy to spread along the meibomian gland duct, so it is more common for patients with meibomian marginal involvement.
Morphologically, the two are very similar in the early stage, but in cancer, the conjunctiva on the surface of the lesion is often rough and sometimes yellow spots can be seen. The conjunctiva at the lesion of chalazion is generally bluish gray or slightly congested, and the surface is generally smooth.
⑶ After the chalazion was cut, there were colloid-like contents. If there is secondary infection and liquefaction, gray-yellow liquid will overflow from the incision. In cancer, it is hard and brittle yellow-white tumor tissue. After the chalazion is punctured automatically, polypoid granulation tissue can be formed, unlike the vegetable-like tumor with rough surface seen in cancer.
(4) In youth, the gland function is vigorous, and chalazion is easy to occur. When people reach old age, glands tend to shrink and their secretion function declines, so chalazion is rare in the elderly. Therefore, when the elderly have recurrent meibomian gland cyst, we must be alert to the possibility of meibomian adenocarcinoma. It is best to remove the diseased tissue and check the nature of the lesion to avoid misdiagnosis.
2. Squamous cell carcinoma: Meibomian adenocarcinoma is very similar to squamous cell carcinoma in pathology, but there are obvious differences between them in clinic.
(1) Meibomian adenocarcinoma mainly occurs in the upper eyelid; Squamous cell carcinoma mostly occurs in the lower eyelid. Meibomian adenocarcinoma is located in the deep part, in the middle of meibomian or under the eyelid skin, while squamous cell carcinoma is generally shallow because it originated from the epidermis of the skin.
⑵ Early meibomian adenocarcinoma looks like chalazion, and early squamous cell carcinoma looks like nevus or papilloma on the skin surface. Advanced meibomian adenocarcinoma is older than squamous cell carcinoma.
⑶ There are more women with meibomian adenocarcinoma than men, while there are far more men with squamous cell carcinoma. They are all older, but meibomian adenocarcinoma is older than squamous cell carcinoma.
⑷ Both of them can metastasize, but the metastatic rate of squamous cell meibomian adenocarcinoma (60%) is higher than that of squamous cell carcinoma (10%).
3. Basal cell carcinoma: Meibomian adenocarcinoma is easily misdiagnosed as basal cell carcinoma based on pathology alone, and should be differentiated according to clinical manifestations.
(1) Meibomian adenocarcinoma has a deep lesion, which is located between the skin and conjunctiva. Basal cell carcinoma usually originates from the epidermis of the skin, with shallow lesions, mostly located near the inner canthus of the lower eyelid.
⑵ The early meibomian adenocarcinoma looks like a chalazion, and the late meibomian adenocarcinoma forms a walnut-like lobulated mass under the skin. After festering, yellow-white cancer tissue is exposed, which looks like cauliflower. Basal cell carcinoma is similar to nevus in the early stage, and forms a typical erosive ulcer in the late stage, with a hard peristalsis edge at the bottom.
⑶ There are more women than men with meibomian adenocarcinoma; In basal cell carcinoma, men and women are similar.
⑷ The metastatic rate of basal cell meibomian adenocarcinoma is about 40%, while basal cell carcinoma of skin basically does not metastasize. Information on other related diseases of meibomian adenocarcinoma:
What causes meibomian adenocarcinoma?
What examination should meibomian adenocarcinoma do?
What are the manifestations of meibomian adenocarcinoma and how to diagnose it?
How should meibomian adenocarcinoma be treated?
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