Are Those Devil’s Horns on Your Head or are You Just Glad to See Me?

The horns on her head are not from a costume store. They are real!

The most famous case of Cutaneous horns is the “tree man” of Indonesia. He had at least 13 pounds of wart tissue removed from his body last year. His condition resulted from an exposure to the Human Papilloma Virus or HPV.

In 1588 an elderly Welsh woman , Margaret Gryffith, took the London stage with a four inch long Cutaneous horn protruding from her forehead. She was known as the “Miraculous and Monstrous” Woman.

Many superstitious people consider people with this condition to be practicing witchcraft or dealing with the devil. You could find the afflicted in circus shows or sideshows. A greedy entrepreneur sideshow leader would quickly see dollar signs flash before his eyes.

Cutaneous horn

Dermatology A focal hyperkeratosis seen in solar, seborrheic, or inverted follicular keratoses, in marsupialized tricholemmal or epidermoid cysts, verruca vulgaris, and in SCC or sebaceous gland carcinoma -McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Cornu cutaneum or Cutaneous horns (cutaneous is Latin for “of the skin”), these growths occur when the surface of the skin thickens, usually in response to some type of disease. Forty percent of the cases reported have been found to be a result of malignant or premalignant epidermal lesions.

A Cutaneous horn is comprised of dead Keratin. Keratin is also found in fingernails. The Cutaneous Horn feels hard, almost wood like, and can also feel rubbery. The horn resembles the horns found on animals, but this is where the similarity ends. The horns of animals are comprised of bone, but the Cutaneous horn lacks a bony core.

It often occurs on sun-exposed areas of the scalp, face, pinna, eyelids, nose, neck, shoulders, hands and penis. I can see all the men wince! It can also arise from burn scars. Cutaneous horns normally occur in adult, fair skinned people who have a history of substantial exposure to the sun. Beware, you sun worshiping blondes! The most common age is 57 years old. There has only been one known report of a black African having a Cutaneous horn. The reported cases of Cutaneous Horns are normally all Caucasian.

If you suspect that you have a Cutaneous horn it is very important to see your doctor as soon as possible. Forty percent of Cutaneous Horns are precancerous lesions.