An Insight into Oral Verruciform Xanthoma:A Report of Two Cases

Oral Verruciform xanthoma (OVX) is a benign mucocutaneous, rare, asymptomatic lesion of unknown etiology and ambiguous nature involving the oral mucous membrane of the middle-aged during the fifth to seventh decadeof life. Clinically it may be presented as a verrucous, polyploid or sessile mass mostly solitary and slow growing in the hard palate,gingival, tongue or buccal mucosa. Colour of the lesion may vary from white, pink or red and there is a slight male predilection. The histopathological features of OVX are however pathognomonic, characterized by the presence of lipid- laden foam cells confined to the papillary areas of connective tissue. The final diagnosis is always histopathological as its clinical features are not distinct and OVX must always be considered in the differential diagnosis of other verrucous and papillary lesions. Treatment of OVX is complete surgical excision with follow up to avoid its recurrence. We present2 cases of oral verruciform Xanthoma, which were provisionally misdiagnosed as pyogenic granuloma and traumatic fibroma respectively based upon their clinical presentation and after a thorough histopathological examination revealed an entirely different diagnosis in both the cases.