title: Histological characteristics of basal cell carcinoma of the eyelid.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the histological subtypes of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) of the eyelid and to determine their effect on the size, depth of invasion and need of retreatment of a nonselected patient material seen in south-western Finland.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the case records and the histological characteristics of BCC of the eyelid treated at the Turku University Eye Clinic during the years 1988 through 1997. The material consisted 103 patients (103 BCC tumors of the eyelid). All tumors were surgically excised. Histological slides were reviewed by a pathologist and the material was divided into histopathological subtypes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 78.3% of the cases, the diameter of the lesion was smaller than 10 mm. The most frequent histological subtype was nodular (84.5%) followed by sclerosing (5.8%), micronodular (4.9%), keratotic (2.9%) and superficial (1.9%) types of BCC of the eyelid. Only patients of the nodular subtype showed recurrences (11 cases). The size of the tumor and the depth of invasion correlated directly with each other. However, some nodular types of BCC tumors smaller than 10 mm in diameter extended to a depth of more than 4.0 mm.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The nodular subtype of BCC should be regarded as a potentially invasive and recurrent tumor. Histopathological examination and subtyping of all BCC tumors is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Ville
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paavilainen
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aaltonen
authors.forename: Juhani
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tuominen
authors.forename: K Matti
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Saari
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005142:Eyelid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index