BASAL-CELL CARCINOMA ON THE NECK

BACKGROUND. In our Mohs surgery practice, a large number of basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) occurring on the neck were noted to be of the super ficial type. OBJECTIVE. Our purpose was to examine a series of consecu tive cases of BCC on the neck. METHODS. We reviewed all cases of BCC o n the neck that were treated in our Mohs surgery unit from 1988 to 199 3. Permanent histologic sections of the BCCs, obtained by excisional d ebulking of the tumors, were examined and the BCCs were typed histolog ically. Each histologic type was correlated with the patient's age, ra ce, sex, its location on the neck, and its status as either a primary or recurrent lesion. RESULTS. In total, 97 BCCs on the neck from 93 pa tients were examined. All patients were Caucasians with an average age of 62.7 years. A peak incidence in the fifth decade occurred in males while this peak occurred in the eighth decade for females. Males outn umbered females 3.4:1. The type and incidence of each BCC was studied with the following results: superficial (38.1%), mixed-superficial (30 .0%), nodular (15.5%), infiltrative (7.2%), morpheaform (5.1%), adenoi d (2.1%), keratotic (1.0%), and metatypical (1.0%). Fifty-one percent of the tumors were primary and 49% were recurrent. The most common loc ation on the neck was the skin overlying the superior aspect of the st ernoclei-domastoid muscles. CONCLUSION. BCCs occurring on the neck wer e most commonly of the superficial type.