{"entity":{"id":"second-primary-skin-cancer","kind":"term","name":"The next skin cancer: second primaries after a keratinocyte cancer","aka":["second primary skin cancer","subsequent non-melanoma skin cancer","another skin cancer","multiple skin cancers","field cancerisation of the skin"],"tldr":"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.\n\nThe 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.","asOf":"2026-09-25","links":[{"label":"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)","url":"https://doi.org/10.1001/archderm.136.12.1524"},{"label":"British Association of Dermatologists: basal cell carcinoma, patient information leaflet (updated July 2025)","url":"https://www.skinhealthinfo.org.uk/condition/basal-cell-carcinoma/"},{"label":"British Association of Dermatologists and BSSCII: skin cancer advice for organ transplant recipients, patient information leaflet (June 2024)","url":"https://www.skinhealthinfo.org.uk/condition/skin-cancer-in-organ-transplant-recipients/"},{"label":"Cancer Research UK: follow-up after non-melanoma skin cancer treatment","url":"https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/skin-cancer/treatment/follow-up-appointments"}],"tags":[],"related":["sun-protection-after-skin-cancer","field-cancerisation","skin-cancer-after-organ-transplant","survivorship-care-plan"],"cancers":["skin-cancer","basal-cell-carcinoma","cutaneous-scc"],"sections":["early-detection","prevention"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"Epidemiology & prevention"},"route":"/terms/second-primary-skin-cancer/","neighbours":{"term":[{"id":"skin-cancer-after-organ-transplant","kind":"term","name":"Skin cancer after an organ transplant","route":"/terms/skin-cancer-after-organ-transplant/"},{"id":"second-primary-skin-cancer-after-cancer-treatment","kind":"term","name":"Skin cancer after cancer treatment","route":"/terms/second-primary-skin-cancer-after-cancer-treatment/"},{"id":"sun-protection-after-skin-cancer","kind":"term","name":"Sun protection after a skin cancer diagnosis","route":"/terms/sun-protection-after-skin-cancer/"},{"id":"rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer","kind":"term","name":"What is not a second cancer: recurrence, metastasis and field cancerisation","route":"/terms/rejuv-second-what-is-not-a-second-cancer/"}],"pathway":[{"id":"field-cancerisation","kind":"pathway","name":"Field cancerisation","route":"/pathways/field-cancerisation/"}],"technology":[{"id":"survivorship-care-plan","kind":"technology","name":"Survivorship care and late-effects surveillance","route":"/technologies/survivorship-care-plan/"}],"cancer":[{"id":"basal-cell-carcinoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Basal cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/basal-cell-carcinoma/"},{"id":"cutaneous-scc","kind":"cancer","name":"Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/cutaneous-scc/"},{"id":"skin-cancer","kind":"cancer","name":"Skin cancer (all types)","route":"/cancers/skin-cancer/"}],"section":[{"id":"early-detection","kind":"section","name":"Early Detection & Screening","route":"/fronts/early-detection/"},{"id":"prevention","kind":"section","name":"Prevention & Risk","route":"/fronts/prevention/"}]}}