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Rare presentations of basal cell carcinoma
Keyvan Nouri1, Paolo Romanelli, Jennifer T Trent
1Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33136, USA. knouri@med.miami.edu
Background:
Even though basal cell carcinomas (BCC) are the most common skin cancers in the world, they rarely appear in the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian populations. BCCs most commonly present on the head and neck of elderly, light-skinned individuals who have received an excessive amount of sun exposure. However, it has been hypothesized that the development of BCCs in unusual populations is a result of an alteration in tumor surveillance or an impairment in cellular immunity.
Objective:
We present two cases of BCC, one in an Asian woman and one in an African-American woman. Neither of these patients had any history of genodermatoses or were immunocompromised.
Conclusion:
BCCs can occur in Asian and African-American patients. Clinicians should include the diagnosis of BCC in their differential for these patients despite their rare presentations.