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 superficial type.

OBJECTIVE

Our purpose was to examine a series of consecutive cases of BCC on the neck.

METHODS

We reviewed all cases of BCC on the neck that were treated in our Mohs surgery unit from 1988 to 1993. Permanent histologic sections of the BCCs, obtained by excisional debulking of the tumors, were examined and the BCCs were typed histologically. Each histologic type was correlated with the patient's age, race, 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 patients 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 outnumbered 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%), adenoid (2.1%), keratotic (1.0%), and metatypical (1.0%). Fifty-one percent of the tumors were primary and 49% were recurrent. The most common location on the neck was the skin overlying the superior aspect of the sternocleidomastoid muscles.

CONCLUSION

BCCs occurring on the neck were most commonly of the superficial type.