Eczema of the nipple: cancer or not?

Paget disease of the nipple is a rare unique presentation of breast cancer. The main differential diagnosis is dermatitis. We describe two patients with mammary Paget: one, a women aged 41, with limited ductal carcinoma in situ and the other, a women of 56 years, with invasive carcinoma. A third patient, a woman of 46 years, had typical eczema of the areola. This disease usually leads to less well circumscribed lesions than Paget. The treatment of Paget disease is not essentially different from that of any other mammary carcinoma. Eczema of the areola is treated with corticosteroids, to which the disease should respond favourably within three weeks.