Marjolin's ulcer arising in a burn scar

Marjolin's ulcer-a term used to describe a malignancy arising in chronic ulcers of the skin, sinuses, scar tissue, and especially burns scars-occurs in two forms: an acute variant in which the malignant changes occur within a year of injury, and a chronic form in which the injury may precede the malignancy by decades. Illustrating the more common chronic form, we present the case of a 32-year old Haitian woman with an extensive squamous cell carcinoma arising from a burn scar on the dorsum of her right hand, with a review of the literature pertaining to burn scar carcinoma.