Brief overview
- Treatment: Medically not absolutely necessary. Removal of cosmetically disturbing fibromas by minor surgery.
- Symptoms: Depending on fibroma type, small flat raised or pedunculated skin growths on face, arms, legs, trunk, sometimes also genital area and oral mucosa
- Causes and risk factors: Not known for certain, defect in tissue differentiation in embryonic phase, clustering in combination with certain diseases
- Disease progression and prognosis: good; no disease value unless fibroma is located in a troublesome area
What is a fibroma?
Doctors call a fibroma a neoplasm of the connective tissue. It is a whole group of different growths involving certain connective tissue cells called fibrocytes. Fibromas are small benign tumors. Malignant tumors of the connective tissue are called fibrosarcomas.
Soft fibroma
Doctors also refer to soft fibroma as fibroma molle or fibroma pendulans. The skin-colored, small tumors occur frequently in both men and women. They are especially often found in overweight individuals. Soft fibromas often form for the first time during puberty.
They often appear on the neck, armpits and groin area. A single soft fibroma is just as possible as several fibromas in one place on the body. These then form a skin tumor that reaches a size of several centimeters.
Hard fibroma
They sit as slightly darker, often light brown spots in the skin. They develop particularly frequently on the legs of young women.
Irritation fibroma
An irritant fibroma or irritation fibroma is a fibroma of the oral mucosa. The small nodules are smooth and limited. They develop when certain areas in the mouth are repeatedly irritated.
Other fibromas
There are some rare tumors that develop from connective tissue cells, especially around the bones. They include:
- Non-osseous fibroma: A pathological, connective tissue change of the bone (cortical defect) that is sometimes observed in children
- Chondromyxoid fibroma: A tumor that usually occurs in long tubular bones and primarily affects adolescents
- Desmoplastic fibroma: An aggressively growing bone tumor that occurs primarily in young people
The following sections deal primarily with fibromas of the skin.
How can a fibroma be treated?
From a medical point of view, a fibroma does not require therapy. Both soft and hard fibromas are harmless. There is no risk of them degenerating and developing into skin cancer. Usually, they stop growing when they reach a certain size and then remain that way.
Remove fibromas
Caution: It is not advisable to remove a fibroma yourself, for example by tying it off, cutting it off or icing it. By doing so, you risk infection or injury. Fibromas have not been known to be removed by home remedies, such as apple cider vinegar. Anyone who wants to have a fibroma removed is in good hands with a dermatologist.
What symptoms does a fibroma cause?
A fibroma in the skin area is visible from the outside. Soft fibromas are particularly common on the neck, in the armpit area, on the groin, and in women below the breasts. They are often pedunculated, and in slightly larger growths, small wrinkles can be seen on the surface.
Most soft fibromas are skin-colored. If they are turned, they may turn red or black due to injury to the blood vessels.
This is how it can be distinguished from a melanocytic nevus (“mole”).
Irritant fibroma is located on the oral mucosa, either in the cheek area, on the side of the tongue or on the gums. It is a small, limited, smooth “bump”. Its color corresponds to the surrounding tissue or is slightly lighter.
Unless they are injured, fibromas do not cause pain.
What are the causes and risk factors?
If an error occurs at individual points during differentiation, this is referred to as hamartia. This leads to the formation of excess tissue – in this case connective tissue. Unlike other tumors, however, hamartomas do not always grow on their own.
Soft fibroma is a common manifestation of a hamartoma.
People with systemic lupus erythematosus, the immunodeficiency AIDS, or a drug-suppressed immune system (for example, after transplantation) often form dermatofibromas (hard fibromas) in increased numbers.
In the case of hard fibroma, experts suspect that it arises from a small inflammation of the connective tissue. Various reasons are possible for this:
- Insect bites
- thorns of plants penetrating the skin
- Inflammation of a hair follicle (folliculitis)
- Other small injuries
An irritant fibroma develops in areas of the mouth that are frequently irritated, for example by a denture or a sharp tooth edge.
How can a fibroma be recognized?
For the diagnosis of a fibroma, the dermatologist (dermatologist) is the expert. First, he or she will ask when the altered area of skin was first noticed, whether it has changed or been injured. In the case of a typical fibroma, an expert can usually tell what it is at first glance.
If there is a suspicion that it is a malignant growth – for example, a malignant melanoma – the doctor takes a tissue sample (biopsy). A small fibroma is usually removed completely (excision). The removed sample can be examined histologically using special procedures.
Is a fibroma curable?
Fibromas are more of an aesthetic problem. Medically, the growths of connective tissue are harmless and therefore do not necessarily require treatment. Some people find fibromas visually disturbing, especially those on the face (for example, on the eyelid), on the neck or in the genital area.
