Rare Presentations of Basal Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

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.