Surreptitious injection of mineral oil: a case report of sclerosing lipogranulomatosis.

Abstract

The use of injectable liquids for cosmetic purposes has been described by numerous clinicians informing the public of its destructive consequences. Several reports of layperson injections have come out recently indicating that the practice is still prevalent worldwide. Reports of self-administration of various liquid agents appear to have a unifying clinical presentation termed sclerosing lipogranulomatosis (SL). Although the clinical manifestations of SL were published at the turn of the century, the pathologic findings were not described until 1950. Immediate and delayed complications of this entity relate to the offending agent used and the site of injection. Some of the more commonly used liquids, paraffin (mineral oil), and polydimethyl siloxane (injectable silicone), have been administered to the scrotum, lower extremities, breast, and face. We report a case in which a patient injected mineral oil into his hips and describe the pathologic findings, complications, and subsequent course of treatment. We have also summarized the world's literature relating to the surreptitious injection of exogenous agents.