Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia should not be confused with Kimura's disease.

PURPOSE: To emphasize the differences between angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE) and Kimura's disease (KD), two entities often confused in the ophthalmic literature.

METHODS: Case report of a subcutaneous mass in the periocular region of a 45-year old woman and a MEDLINE review of the ophthalmic and non-ophthalmic literature on ALHE and KD.

RESULTS: The clinical and histopathological findings of the present case were consistent with ALHE, but not with KD. A survey of the current ophthalmic literature indicates that these two designations are still often used synonymously, despite that non-ophthalmic papers now separate ALHE from KD.

CONCLUSION: The clinical and histopathological features of ALHE are most often distinctly different from KD and these entities should be clearly separated in the ophthalmic literature.