Cock's peculiar tumour

Cock's peculiar tumour is a sebaceous cyst linked growth.^[1] One form of sebaceous cyst is the trichilemmal cyst; these are thought to arise from the hair follicle epithelium and are most commonly found on the scalp. Usually they are multiple but occasionally there can be a proliferating trichilemmal cyst which grows to a large size and ulcerates. These can resemble a squamous cell carcinoma (both clinically and histologically) and these ulcerating solitary cysts are called Cock's peculiar tumour.

Chronic inflammation causes the cyst to take the form of a granuloma. This granuloma mimicks a squamous cell tumor. Hence it is a misnomer. It is not a tumor but looks like a tumor. The most common sites are the ones where one can find hairs. these are, scalp and scrotum.

References

1. ^ Ramachandran, Manoj; Adam Poole (2003). Clinical cases and OSCEs in surgery. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 9. ISBN 9780443070440. http://books.google.com/books?id=7WAEfWcQweAC&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=%22Cock%27s+peculiar+tumour%22+-wikipedia&source=bl&ots=iWWGybvKtl&sig=gd6V8yOWBWscfF90AWwsbaykDKI&hl=en&ei=PN0ZSqWOJ5-OtgPe9bDeCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3. Retrieved May 24, 2009.