Frequency
Usually the basal cell carcinoma does not appear until the older age of about 60 years. Since one of the main causes of basal cell carcinoma is years of exposure to sunlight, more and more younger people are becoming ill nowadays as their lifestyle changes, who frequently visit solariums or sunbathe for hours on end. Especially people who have a genetic predisposition to rapid sunburn are among the main risk groups for basaliomas.
This usually includes people with fair skin, blond or red hair and blue eyes, the so-called Celtic skin type. People who have worked outdoors for years (e.g. agricultural workers) and have thus been exposed to strong sunlight are also often affected by basalioma or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. Typically, the basal cell carcinoma occurs on parts of the body that are poorly protected from light.
In over 80% of cases, these are the head, face and neck. Especially an infestation of the forehead, scalp and ears is typical. In Germany, approximately 130,000 people are newly diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma every year.
Causes of a basal cell carcinoma of the ear
One of the main causes of basal cell carcinoma is years of exposure to sunlight with sunburn. Excessive exposure to sunlight causes damage to the DNA of our skin cells, which leads to malignant degeneration. However, these cells are often recognized and destroyed by our body.
This prevents the development of tumours. If these diseased cells nevertheless survive, they develop into tumour cells, which can lead to an unstoppable tumour growth. A weakness of the immune system can promote this process.
Other causes for the development of a basal cell carcinoma are genetic predispositions, skin type, scars that favour the development of a basal cell carcinoma or treatment with arsenic, which was previously used to treat psoriasis. Other skin diseases such as albinism or xeroderma pigmentosa are also associated with an increased risk of skin cancer. The latter is a rare genetic disease based on a chromosomal defect and is associated with a massive risk of degeneration of the skin when exposed to light.
Even the slightest exposure to light can be accompanied by skin burns and wart-like formations, which degenerate in the course of time and become skin cancer. Affected persons, mostly children, must be consistently protected against light exposure. For this reason, the disease also has a nickname: Moonlight Sickness.
Symptoms of a basal cell carcinoma of the ear
A typical symptom of basalioma of the ear is the approximately pea-sized, hardened, hemispherical and painless elevation, on the surface of which there are thin, tortuous vessels, so-called telangiectasias. Since basaliomas grow very slowly, they are only noticed after many years. As they grow, the typical pearl-like rim develops.
This describes a rim wall of many small skin-coloured to pearly nodules, which are strung together like on a chain. Usually the basal cell carcinoma is skin-coloured, but it can also appear brownish to blackish like the pigmented basal cell carcinoma. This in turn can lead to confusion with the malignant melanoma (black skin cancer).
The ulcerous basal cell carcinoma usually impresses in the form of an abrasion of the skin, the surface of which is covered with a crust, which does not heal even after many weeks, but rather increases in size. The flat growing basal cell carcinoma on the other hand rather reminds of eczema or psoriasis due to its reddish-brownish colour. After some time, however, the typical pearl-like rim also forms here, which makes the diagnosis of a basal cell carcinoma of the ear reliable.