A Case of Graphite Foreign Body Misdiagnosed: CASE REPORT
A 19-year old woman presented with an asymptomatic papule of a 10 year duration. On general inspection, a solitary well-defined 0.5 x 0.3 cm blue papule on the right index finger was observed (Fig. 1A, B). In history taking, she recalled having a trauma with a pencil 10 years ago. She removed the remaining pencil by herself and remembered there was no material left on the stab wound site. A diagnosis of blue nevus was made based on the clinical findings. The punch biopsy contained a piece of material that resembled pencil lead, having a 0.3 cm length (Fig. 1C). Histological evaluation of the punch biopsy demonstrated increased basal pigmentation and small scattered carbon pigments in the dermis (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1. (A, B) A well-defined blue papule on the right index finger, (C) The lead of a pencil from the punch biopsy site.
There was no foreign body reaction or inflammation. Final diagnosis of graphite foreign body was made. levitra plus
Fig. 2. (A, B) Affected skin biopsy showing increased basal pigmentation and small scattered and fragmented black colored carbon particles in the dermis without obvious inflammatory cell infiltration (H&E, x 40, x 200).
