Painless mass below the earlobe should be alerted to malignant transformation of mixed tumors of the parotid gland

In daily life, many people unconsciously feel or are found to have a lump under the earlobe, or even a hard lump, but because it is not accompanied by physical discomfort, it is not examined and treated. This is a misconception because the majority of these masses are mixed tumor lesions of the parotid gland. This disease is mostly seen in young adults and elderly people, and because the symptoms of the disease are not obvious, it is mostly an insidious process. The outer layer of the tumor is a very thin envelope, which is formed by the deformation of the parotid tissue under pressure, not a true envelope. It has a potentially malignant biology (i.e., malignant), so it is clinically considered as a borderline tumor. The tumor should be surgically removed at an early stage to prevent malignant transformation, along with the envelope and the parotid tissue surrounding the tumor (generally divided into superficial parotidectomy and total parotidectomy).