ABSTRACT.Purpose: To study the incidence of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the eyelid in Finland. Methods: We studied 6241 cases of BCC of the eyelid reported to the nationwide Finnish Cancer Registry during 1953-97. We determined the age-and sexspecific incidence rates and overall rates adjusted for age to the world standard population, and social class-and occupation-specific standardized incidence ratios, with the total Finnish population as reference.Results: The incidence rates of BCC of the eyelid varied between 0.7 and 3.0 per 100 000 person-years in men and between 0.5 and 2.8 per 100 000 person-years in women during the study period. The age-adjusted incidence rates of BCC of the eyelid increased during 1953-87 (p < 0.0001). The incidence of BCC of the eyelid rose significantly with age. There were no significant differences in standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for BCC of the eyelid between different social class and occupation categories. Conclusion: Age-adjusted incidence rates showed that BCC of the eyelid was more than twice as frequent during 1978-97 than before 1968. Ageing may partly explain the increased incidence of BCC of the eyelid, whereas there were no differences in the SIRs for BCC of the eyelid between different social class and occupation categories in Finland.

In South-Western Finland the incidence of BCC of the eyelids more than tripled during the years from 1977 to 1997. This may be due to the increase of the elderly population, because the incidence showed a significant increase with age.

In normal subjects, the GIIAPLA(2) content of tears increased from 8 a.m. to noon and decreased from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The use of CLs for 4 h and 8 h caused a decrease in the GIIAPLA(2) content of tears. This difference was not seen at 4 p.m. the day when the CL wearers did not use CLs.

Purpose: To evaluate the histological subtypes of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the eyelid and to determine their effect on the size, depth of invasion and need of retreatment of a nonselected patient material seen in south-western Finland. Methods: We studied the case records and the histological characteristics of BCC of the eyelid treated at the Turku University Eye Clinic during the years 1988 through 1997. The material consisted 103 patients (103 BCC tumors of the eyelid). All tumors were surgically excised. Histological slides were reviewed by a pathologist and the material was divided into histopathological subtypes. Results: In 78.3% of the cases, the diameter of the lesion was smaller than 10 mm. The most frequent histological subtype was nodular (84.5%) followed by sclerosing (5.8%), micronodular (4.9%), keratotic (2.9%) and superficial (1.9%) types of BCC of the eyelid. Only patients of the nodular subtype showed recurrences (11 cases). The size of the tumor and the depth of invasion correlated directly with each other. However, some nodular types of BCC tumors smaller than 10 mm in diameter extended to a depth of more than 4.0 mm. Conclusions: The nodular subtype of BCC should be regarded as a potentially invasive and recurrent tumor. Histopathological examination and subtyping of all BCC tumors is recommended.

We conclude that neither senile cataract nor POAG has any effect on the PLA2 content of tears.