Rare presentations of basal cell carcinoma

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.