Synchronous eruption of cotton-induced granulomas 45 years after exposure: report of an unusual case.

Abstract

A 58-year-old woman developed multiple, recurrent abscesses and subcutaneous nodules over both buttocks during a 12-year period. Microbiological studies of surgical biopsy specimens were inconclusive for a specific infectious cause, but histochemical preparations on several separate occasions revealed an exuberant foreign body reaction to raw cotton fibers. Interestingly, the patient gave a detailed history of sliding down piles of cotton hulls during her childhood, some 45 years earlier. With a probable cause-and-effect relationship established, we postulate a dramatically delayed foreign body granulomatous reaction to cotton fibers.