The term "hidradenoma" is historically overused and is used for benign eccrine as well as apocrine tumors (see Hidradenoma papilliferum). The term "hidradenoma" is generally reserved for tumours that are close to the eccrine poroma.
The definition is accepted: benign adnexal tumour with "eccrine" (and apocrine) differentiation, probably originating from a pluripotent stem cell.
The clear cell variant ( clear cell hidradenoma) shows apocrine differentiation, an epidermoid variant shows spindle cell differentiation with trichilemmal or infundibular horn formation, a chondroid variant shows the image of a"chondroid syringoma".