SUMMARY Background: The presence of abdominal wall endometriosis (AWE) used to be confused with other surgical pathologies that may appear in these zones. Objective: To evaluate the AWE clinical characteristics. Method: Retrospective study of all the patients hospitalized with the histopathologycal diagnosis of AWE, between January 1997 and December 2005. Results: There was found AWE only in 14 patients. Their mean age was 33.2 years old. The symptoms were: cyclic pain (71.4%), abdominal wall mass (100%), dyspareunia (21.4%) and dysmenorrhea (42.8%). All patients had at least one gynecologic (2 patients with laparoscopic procedures) or obstetric surgery (85.7% had previous cesarean section). Only one patient had previously been diagnosed with pelvic endometriosis. Their symptoms started after an average of 3.5 years after surgery. The AWE had a mean size of 3.2 cm. The preoperative diagnosis was correct in 64.3%. The incorrect preoperative diagnoses were 3 granuloma, 1 inguinal hernia and 1 lipoma. All patients required surgery. 64.3% of the patients it was necessary a polytetrafluoethylene mesh. Four patients (28.5%) had AWE recurrences. 60% of the wrong initial diagnosis recurred versus 11.1% of the