# The next skin cancer: second primaries after a keratinocyte cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/second-primary-skin-cancer/  
OnCo record `second-primary-skin-cancer` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The likeliest thing to happen after a basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma is not that this one comes back. It is that you get a different one somewhere else, because the whole area of skin took the same ultraviolet damage. The published three-year figures are 44 percent for a further basal cell carcinoma and 18 percent for a further squamous cell carcinoma.

## Summary

Marcil and Stern reviewed 17 studies covering 26 tumour combinations and pooled them. The three-year cumulative risk of a subsequent squamous cell carcinoma after an index squamous cell carcinoma was 18 percent, at least a ten-fold increase over the incidence of first tumours in a comparable general population. For basal cell carcinoma the three-year cumulative risk of a subsequent one was 44 percent, also at least a ten-fold increase. The risk of a basal cell carcinoma in someone with a prior squamous cell carcinoma was about the same as in someone with a prior basal cell carcinoma, while the risk of a squamous cell carcinoma after a basal cell carcinoma was low at 6 percent. Those are cumulative risks in the cohorts reviewed, not a prediction for an individual, and they depend on the number of prior tumours of that type.

The British Association of Dermatologists puts the squamous cell carcinoma figure higher over a longer window in its patient leaflet: within the five years after treatment for a low-risk squamous cell carcinoma there is about a 40 percent chance of another one, and after a higher-risk squamous cell carcinoma the risk may be as high as 80 percent. This is the reason the BAD asks people to check their own skin once a month, with help for the places they cannot see, and the reason a dermatologist may treat sun-damaged skin that does not look like cancer. Cancer Research UK asks people to know what their skin normally looks like and to see a doctor about any change, without naming a frequency.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-09-25
- Also known as: second primary skin cancer; subsequent non-melanoma skin cancer; another skin cancer; multiple skin cancers; field cancerisation of the skin

## Sources

- Marcil and Stern, risk of developing a subsequent non-melanoma skin cancer in patients with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer: review and meta-analysis (Arch Dermatol 2000): https://doi.org/10.1001/archderm.136.12.1524
- British Association of Dermatologists: basal cell carcinoma, patient information leaflet (updated July 2025): https://www.skinhealthinfo.org.uk/condition/basal-cell-carcinoma/
- British Association of Dermatologists and BSSCII: skin cancer advice for organ transplant recipients, patient information leaflet (June 2024): https://www.skinhealthinfo.org.uk/condition/skin-cancer-in-organ-transplant-recipients/
- Cancer Research UK: follow-up after non-melanoma skin cancer treatment: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/skin-cancer/treatment/follow-up-appointments

## Connected records

- terms: [Skin cancer after an organ transplant](https://onco.cc/terms/skin-cancer-after-organ-transplant/), [Skin cancer after cancer treatment](https://onco.cc/terms/second-primary-skin-cancer-after-cancer-treatment/), [Sun protection after a skin cancer diagnosis](https://onco.cc/terms/sun-protection-after-skin-cancer/), [What is not a second cancer: recurrence, metastasis and field cancerisation](https://onco.cc/terms/rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer/)
- pathways: [Field cancerisation](https://onco.cc/pathways/field-cancerisation/)
- technologies: [Survivorship care and late-effects surveillance](https://onco.cc/technologies/survivorship-care-plan/)
- cancers: [Basal cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/basal-cell-carcinoma/), [Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/cutaneous-scc/), [Skin cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/skin-cancer/)
- fronts: [Early Detection & Screening](https://onco.cc/fronts/early-detection/), [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/)

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