Stagnant wound healing after head and neck surgery: Better to turn back halfway than to get lost altogether! [Stagnerende wondgenezing na hoofd-halschirurgie: Beter ten halve gekeerd, dan ten hele gedwaald!]

This article describes a 81-year-old man with a possible malignant nodular swelling in the left neck and an ulcerative lesion on the scalp. Both were surgically removed for further histological diagnosis. Post operatively a non-healing wound of both scalp and the left neck persisted for a long time. The eventual diagnosis was pyoderma gangrenosum, a rare, idiopathic and ulcerative skin disease, which can clinically be mistaken for a malignancy. Early recognition of this ailment allows for an adequate conservative therapy and can avoid surgical therapy.