Clinical Characteristics of Basal Cell Carcinoma in African Americans: A 10-Year Retrospective Review at a Single Academic Institution

BACKGROUNDBasal cell carcinoma (BCC) is an uncommon diagnosis in African Americans, and as a result, there is a limited amount of data available.OBJECTIVEWe sought to describe the clinical characteristics of BCC in African Americans treated with Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS).METHODSWe performed a retrospective case series in an ambulatory referral center at a single academic institution from 2007 to 2017 to characterize BCCs in African Americans treated with MMS.RESULTSA total of 17 patients, who identified as black or African American, with 18 BCCs were included for analysis. Patients were predominantly female (82%) with a mean age at diagnosis of 61 years. Seventy-eight percent of tumors were located in the head and neck region with 50% of BCCs located in high-risk areas. The average preoperative and postoperative defect size was 1.78 and 5.90 cm², respectively, with a mean number of 2.2 Mohs stages required for tumor clearance. One patient had Gorlin syndrome.CONCLUSIONThe presented retrospective review adds to limited available reported studies regarding BCC in African Americans to potentially aid in early recognition of these tumors.