Pyogenic granuloma

• benign vascular lesion of the skin and mucosa
• appear as a fleshy red mass with relatively rapid growth
• Histology: mixed acute and chronic inflammatory cells, with capillary proliferation in a lobular pattern (capillary hemangioma)
• occurs most often in children and pregnant women and may occur close to the site of a minor injury
• causes: usually associated with some inflammatory process such as a chalazion, severe blepharitis and meibomianitis, as a foreign body reaction or trauma such as surgery (pterygium excision, chalazia incision and drainage, placement of orbital implants, nasolacrimal duct probing with silicone tube placement, insertion of silicone punctal plugs, blepharoplasty, and eye muscle surgery).
• in most cases, these lesions will resolve with topical steroid administration x2-3 weeks
• surgical excision may be required for those lesions that fail to resolve after topical treatment
• in rare cases malignant neoplasms such as Kaposi’s sarcoma may mimic pyogenic granuloma
• recurrence following excision is extremely rare