Introduction

Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) is a malignant epithelial tumour of the skin. It is more common in men than in women, and it is rare to find it in patients younger than about 40 years of age. It has very little tendency to metastasize, but may kill by direct invasion of tissues. Occasionally, it may metastasize to lymph nodes or to remote viscera.

It usually arises, as its name implies, from the basal cells of the skin, or from the cells of the external sheath of hair follicles.