Introduction:
Cutaneous metastasis is defined as the dissemination of malignant cells from a primary tumor to the skin. Skin may be affected by tumors, either through direct invasion from an adjacent organ or by cutaneous metastasis from an internal organ malignancy. We report a case of a 75-year-old female patient with skin metastasis 8 years after the initial treatment of primary breast cancer.
Patient concern:
The patient presented only with papules and nodular skin lesions in the left lateral abdominal area, without any other clinical manifestations.
Diagnosis:
All laboratory tests were normal. Histological examinati revealed the infiltration of the dermis by tumor cells.
Interventions/outcome:
After the diagnosis of skin metastasis, she was treated with chemotherapy with complete remission of skin lesions.
Conclusion:
Skin metastasis from internal organs is rarely the first sign. In this case, skin metastasis was the only clinical sign and the only diagnostic tool to drive to the correct diagnosis of a recurrent cancer after 8 years. Dermatologists might be the first doctors to facilitate the diagnosis of skin metastasis.