Seborrheic keratosis is one of the most common benign neoplasms seen at the trunk, extremities, head and neck of older individuals which rarely occurs in the auditory canal. Even rarer is the occurrence of an inverted or hyperkeratotic variant in this localization. We present the clinical picture of a 74-year-old man with a recurrent hyperkeratotic, partially inverted seborrheic keratosis of the right external auditory canal. This disease is sometimes difficult to diagnose, particulary to mark down malignant lesions. An uncritical diagnosis must be avoided, since these lesions and especially the irritated subtype might be falsely assessed as basal cell carcinomas which they may resemble histologically.