Skin and breast disease in the differential diagnosis of chest pain.

There are several skin and breast lesions that can cause pain or tenderness. In most cases the presence of a skin lesion, if not its definitive diagnosis, will be clinically evident. In most instances treatment of these painful skin lesions is by simple excision, which will also provide histologic confirmation of the diagnosis. It would be rare for a cutaneous cause of skin pain to be mistaken for another cause. The prodromal pain of herpes zoster is most likely to cause diagnostic confusion. The painful skin lesions are usually identified by the patient as being the source of their discomfort. The specific diagnosis may not be apparent without submission of lesional tissue for histology. Chest pain is an uncommon presenting symptom of benign and malignant breast lesions. Breast examination and investigation may be appropriate when other causes of chest pain are not evident.