Little information has been published on experience with surgical treatment of malignant melanoma of the external ear. Review of the literature and four representative cases admitted to the Wadsworth VA Hospital between 1947 and 1967 provides a basis for therapeutic recommendations. Elective neck dissections are advocated because approximately 40% of melanoma patients treated by local excision alone eventually will develop regional node metastases and because of the high incidence of microscopic malignancy in clinically negative neck dissection specimens. Earlier diagnosis and treatment by surgeons who apply the established principles of radical surgery for cancer can result in improved surviyal rates as demonstrated by our 19‐year survival of stage II melanoma treated by amputation of the affected auricle in continuity with a radical neck dissection.

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