The difference between chestnut papules and syringoma

Chestnut papules and syringoma are both very common diseases in daily life, but because the two are similar in many aspects, many people easily confuse them. Chestnut papules are benign tumors or retention cysts on the skin epidermis and can occur at any age. Syringoma is an adenoma of the small sweat gland ducts in the epidermis and is more common in adolescence, especially in females. People need to know more about this.

1. Chestnut papules

Milia is also known as white acne or milia alba. A benign tumor or retention cyst originating from the epidermis or adnexal epithelium. It can occur in any age and gender, and can also be seen in newborns. Milia caused by trauma often occur after abrasions, scratches, or inflammatory rashes on the face.

Milia can be divided into two types: primary and secondary. The former is formed by the epithelium at the lower end of the infundibulum of the vellus hairs, and the latter is a retention cyst caused by epidermal hyperplasia of the epidermis or skin appendages after second-degree burns and skin grinding, and secondary to subepidermal bullous diseases such as bullous pemphigoid, malnutrition epidermolysis bullosa, porphyria cutanea tarda, and other subepidermal bullous diseases.

2. Syringoma

Syringoma is more common in females and occurs or worsens during adolescence. The lesions often occur on the eyelids (especially the lower eyelids) and forehead. The lesions are millet-sized, multiple, light brown papules that are slightly elevated above the skin surface. A small number of patients have eruptive syringomas. In addition to facial syringomas, extensive and symmetrical skin lesions can also be seen on the chest, abdomen, limbs and vulva.

Syringoma is an adenoma of the eccrine sweat gland duct in the epidermis. Histochemical studies have shown that syringoma contains phosphorylase and hydrolase of typical eccrine sweat gland origin and is a benign sweat gland tumor that differentiates into terminal sweat ducts. Some patients have a family history. The lesions often occur on the eyelids and cheeks, with small, hard, and tough papules as the main manifestation. It rarely resolves on its own, but does not become malignant. No treatment is required. It is often associated with diabetes, and clinically the skin lesions are the same as those of syringoma, with no difference in age, gender, and distribution of skin lesions. The difference between the two diseases, apart from the histopathological manifestations, is that they are often accompanied by diabetes; among the 60 cases reported in the literature, only one case was not accompanied by diabetes. There have also been reports of eruptive skin lesions.

3. The difference between the two

Syringoma is a benign tumor. The difference from milia is that syringomas are tumor-like rather than papule-like. Syringoma and milia are easy to distinguish in the eyes of doctors, and the photos also show great differences. But the treatment is different. Generally, I do not recommend that patients seek treatment for syringomas. If treatment is available, methods such as carbon dioxide laser can be tried. One problem is that syringomas can recur and, if not treated properly, can easily leave stains.

In general, syringoma and milia are the two most common diseases on women's face and have little impact on their life and work. However, it does affect the patient's mood, and treatment is not recommended if it is not very obvious. If there are too many, you need to make a good diagnosis and then choose different treatment methods.