Basal Cell Carcinoma Arising in a Tattooed Eyebrow

Abstract

Fig. 1. A 1.1×1.3 cm, skin-colored, sclerotic, depressed patch with a translucent papule and a peripheral erythematous rim within the black tattoo pigment on the left eyebrow.

Tattoo-Associated Basal Cell Carcinoma: Coincident or Coincidence

“…Tattoo-associated basal cell carcinoma has seldom been reported. To the best of our knowledge, including the man described in this paper, basal cell carcinoma appearing in a tattoo has only been documented in 14 individuals [3,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. The features of the patients with tattoo-associated basal cell carcinoma are summarized in Table 1 [3,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”

“…Some of the investigators have implied that the tattoo -either itself or during the process of its creation or following exposure to ultraviolet radiation -may have contributed to the pathogenesis of the basal cell carcinoma at this site [3,17,18,[21][22][23]. Indeed, 92% (11 of 12) of the tattoos were darkly pigmented.…”

“…Whether the pathogenesis of tattoo-associated basal cell carcinoma is a coincident occurrence involving a multifactorial etiology of basal cell carcinoma susceptibility combined with a carcinogen effect of the tattoo pigments and dyes or merely a coincidence of the cancer appearing on a sun-exposed site that also happens to be the location of a tattoo remains to be established. The investigators of 9 patients with tattoo-associated basal cell carcinomasincluding the reported patient -favor that this phenomenon is a coincident event [3,17,18,[21][22][23]. However, the researchers of 4 patients consider the development of a basal cell carcinoma in a tattoo to merely be due to chance alone [19,20,25].…”

Malignant Melanoma Arising in Red Tattoo Ink

“…The pathogenesis of melanoma arising in a tattoo is unknown. Various dermatological conditions have been reported arising in tattoos including basal cell carcinomas [ 3 ], keratocanthomas and squamous cell carcinomas [ 4 ] yet there has been very little reports of melanoma developing in pre-existing tattoos [ 5 ]. Tattoos are not considered a risk factor for the development of melanoma.…”

Oncologic Surgery to the Ciliary Region

“…4 Dermatologic surgery textbooks include this anatomic area either in the chapter on surgery of the eyelid or in the one on surgery of the forehead. We have considered it interesting to present surgical cases of large defects that mainly affect the ciliary region due to the difficulty in their reconstruction and their importance in facial esthetic appearance.…”