A case of 12 year-old Nigerian male is presented. He had an unusual variant
of Weber-Christian disease and manifested massive subcutaneous indurations
and nodules limited to the cheeks, lips, left pectoral, infraclavicular an
d supraclavicular areas. A wedge biopsy revealed suppurative granulomatous
eosinophilic panniculitis, Despite exhaustive investigations, no obvious tr
igger of the panniculitis could be identified. Response to corticosteroids
and to empirical trials with other drugs was poor, and the outcome was fata
l. We believe this is the first report from Nigeria of this rare variant of
Weber-Christian panniculitis in the paediatric age, and draw attention to
the life - threatening nature of this disorder.