Lipomatous lesions of the parotid area.

Lipoma of the parotid gland is a rare lesion in adults and children, and appears most frequently in the fifth and sixth decades of life. Thirty-two lipomatous lesions of the parotid gland and periparotid area are reviewed. One lipoma occurred in a 7-year-old boy. The lesion shows a definite sex preference, with a male to female ratio of 10:1. The lesion shows no laterality preference. The most frequent preoperative diagnoses in our series were mixed tumor and Warthin tumor. In general, these lesions are soft, mobile, and painless and enlarge slowly. They are not associated with neurological deficits, skin changes, other salivary gland lesions, or with lipomas elsewhere in the body. The surgical management of this lesion should be the same as for any other parotid tumor with due regard for the presence of the facial nerve in the operative field. There were no facial nerve injuries in this series. If totally excised, these lesions show no tendency to recur.