Malignant skin cancers in Korea have been increasing as in other countries, but the previous epidemiological studies have been only attempted by a single hospital unit in a limited period of time.

This study aimed to investigate and compare the frequencies, age, sex distribution, and anatomical location of the frequent skin cancers collected from several hospitals over a 10 year period between 1984-5 and 1994-5.

258 cases of skin cancer from 4 different places in Seoul were collected for the study. Histopathological records from pathology departments and medical records were reviewed to obtain information about the frequencies.

Overall there were 141 cases of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)1 basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and malignant melanoma (MM) in the mid-eighties and 117 in the mid-nineties. SCC was the most common skin cancer in both periods but the frequencies and the SCC/BCC ratio dropped at the later period. The ratio of males to females was getting smaller at 1.4:1 in the mid-eighties and 1.1:1 in the mid-nineties. BCC was concentrated on the face and SCC was rather evenly distributed over the body surface. The predilection site of malignant melanoma (MM) was quite different between the two periods. The lower extremities was the main site in the mid-nineties and the head and neck in the mid-eighties.

Although there was no statistical significance, the BCC/SCC ratio was increased and the male/female ratio decreased at the later period.