&NA;The authors have treated a 20‐year‐old man with a dorsal intramedullary epidermoid cyst in whom magnetic resonance imaging was performed both before evacuation of the cyst and 3 months later. Intraspinal epidermoid tumors are rare, and the intramedullary location is quite uncommon. To our knowledge, this is the first description of magnetic resonance imaging of an intramedullary epidermoid cyst. The frequency, possibilities, and limits of surgical treatment of such intraspinal benign tumors are reviewed. (Neurosurgery25:955‐959, 1989)