Granuloma Annulare Mimicking Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Misdiagnosing granuloma annulare (GA) for a malignant process can lead to unnecessary and costly treatment avenues for the patient. Thus, it is salient for surgeons to independently evaluate a patient’s clinical and histopathologic presentation before proceeding with surgery. We present a case of a 67-year-old male with a biopsy-proven squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) on the dorsal hand who presented for Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS). At this time, the surgeon noticed the histopathologic diagnosis did not match the patient’s clinical appearance. GA was diagnosed following a repeat biopsy of the lesion, which prevented an unnecessary Mohs procedure. We present this case primarily to highlight the importance of clinicopathologic correlation by the surgeon when a patient is referred for surgery.