Abstract

DESPITE its reasonably high prevalence in the salivary gland, mucoepidermoid carcinoma arises extremely sporadically in the lacrimal gland.1 In fact, the lesion as separate entity has been so difficult to document that its very existence as a lacrimal gland primary tumor has been challenged.2 Because of the elusiveness of the glandular component in poorly differentiated lesions and the squamous component in well differentiated lesions, the diagnosis may not be reached unless a high rate of suspicion leads to special studies. We describe a patient with mucoepidermoid carcinoma apparently arising in the lacrimal gland. The diagnosis was established by ultrastructural study.