Benign cephalic histiocytosis

What it is

A rare non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis characterized by multiple small yellowish-red or brown papules initially erupting predominantly in the head and neck region. The histopathological hallmark of these eventually self-healing lesions is a dermal proliferation of histiocytes with intracytoplasmic comma-shaped bodies, coated vesicles, and desmosome-like structures. Birbeck granules are absent. The disease typically occurs in young children.

Key facts

Prevalence

<1 / 1 000 000 (Europe)

Age of onset

Infancy

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Disease

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Cross-references