"Teddy bear granuloma", a rare condition: A case report of a 3-year-old child

Conjunctival synthetic fiber granulomas, or "Teddy bear granulomas'', are rare granulomatous responses to synthetic fabric fibers. We report the case of a 3-year-old boy with no prior infectious or traumatic history, brought in by his parents for an incidentally discovered conjunctival growth in his right eye. Slit lamp examination revealed a 10-mm growth in the inferior fornix surrounding a small greyish foreign body. Surgical excision and histopathology revealed granulomatous inflammatory cell response with foreign body giant cells surrounding exogenous material. This foreign material was birefringent in polarized light, very suggestive of synthetic fabric fibers, which permitted the diagnosis of Teddy bear granuloma. Synthetic fiber granulomas present in children as unilateral, more or less inflammatory growths in the inferior conjunctival fornix. Surgical excision with histopathology makes the diagnosis and effects the cure. (C) 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.