METHODS We report a case of a 46-year-old woman who developed a tender, painful mass in the left superior eyelid over a period of about 6 months. This was a frontal mucocele with atypical clinical and histopathologic features. CONCLUSIONS Most mucoceles arise from the frontal or ethmoidal sinuses. Frontal mucoceles usually cause outward and downward displacement of the globe, and are often associated with fullness in the supero-nasal and medial canthal region and a palpable mass.