Available online 7 October 2022

Keratin pearls are intraepithelial accumulations of squamous cells and debris that can be an etiology of vulvovaginal irritation in pediatric patients, and are often associated with clitoral adhesions. Historically, most cases have been managed with manual or operative lysis of adhesions.

Two prepubertal girls presented to our clinic with chronic clitoral irritation and were found to have clitoral adhesions with keratin pearls. Both were managed with topical estrogen cream which resulted in resolution of their symptoms.

Keratin pearls can form when the overlying clitoral epithelium becomes blocked by clitoral adhesions. Hypoestrogenism is thought to be implicated in adhesion development, thus topical estrogen cream is a reasonable option in initial management. Our results demonstrate a noninvasive alternative to the initial treatment of clitoral keratin pearls.

Keratin pearl

Clitoral adhesion

Topical estrogen cream

© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.