What are the types of basal cell carcinoma?
Basal cell carcinoma, the most common skin cancer, can come in various subtypes. The most frequent type of basal cell carcinoma is the nodular basal cell carcinoma, which usually clinically presents as a bump or a small elevated plaque, usually with some bleeding and crusting and with some dilated blood vessels on the top of it. That is by far the most common type of basal cell carcinoma. There is a subset of basal cell carcinoma called the superficial multicentric basal cell carcinoma. Multicentric basal cell carcinoma usually occurs on the trunk, including the proximal extremities. A multicentric basal cell carcinoma is a patch of red crusting which is usually bigger than a centimetre or a quarter of an inch, and these often will occur in multiple numbers, not just one but rather two or three at a time. Another subtype of basal cell carcinoma is the pigmented basal cell carcinoma. This will appear brown, a little brown nodule that when looked at closely by an expert will differentiate itself from a normal mole or beauty mark on the skin. These are usually somewhat opalescent or glassy in their appearance. There is a group of basal cell carcinomas known as sclerotic or fibrosing basal cell carcinomas. These basal cell carcinomas are very difficult to detect. They grow in the skin rather than on the skin. They cause a scar or retraction of the skin, and are usually only identified when they are quite large. And the last subgroup of importance is the basal squamous cell carcinoma, which is a basal cell carcinoma that has some features under the microscope of a squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous basal cell carcinomas are slightly more aggressive in their growth pattern and tend to be removed with somewhat more of an aggressive nature.
