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Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer. The majority of patients are elderly Caucasians with sun-damaged skin. However, the physician must suspect the possibility of basal cell carcinoma even in young patients and blacks. A nonhealing ulcer or a suspicious nodule must be subjected to biopsy. The physician must carefully evaluate the pathologist's report before embarking on treatment. Various methods of treatment can be utilized and many clinical situations should be discussed with the local surgeon, pathologist, or dermatologist. Knowledge of the indications and contraindications of various modes of surgery for basal cell carcinoma is required in order to choose the proper treatment for each patient. Only long-term follow-up can detect recurrent or new basal cell carcinomas. The patient should be instructed about the importance of avoiding additional sun damage to the skin and how to use sunscreens.

Psoriasis appears in most cases to be a genetic disease8in which stratified squamous epithelium (epidermis) of skin in involved versus normal‐appearing uninvolved areas has the following prototypic features: (1) excessive cell proliferation and an accelerated cell cycle of the proliferating cells21; (2) incomplete epidermal specialization (keratinization) for tissue function; and (3) marked increase in glycogen content.7It has been widely held that the relative lack of epidermal specialization is due to the rapid transit of cells through the epidermis (i.e., the cells are shed from the patient without sufficient time for normal keratinization to occur). However, an alternate explanation is that the excessive cell proliferation is the result of an inability of differentiated basal cells to make the commitment of specialization. For this reason we have listed incomplete specialization as one of the three characteristic findings in psoriasis lesions.

The cutaneous lesions of malignant atrophic papulosis (Degos disease) are said to be unique1 and so characteristic that the diagnosis can be made easily from a photograph.2In 1942 Degos et al3 described this disease which was subsequently named "malignant atrophic papulosis," and it was first described in the United States by Naylor et al in 1960.4 This disease had actually been described in 1941 by Kohlmeier5 who considered it to be thromboangiitis obliterans of the intestine with skin lesions. There have been 32 cases of this disease reported in the world literature,6-9 and it is apparent that it is a multisystemic disease with cutaneous involvement.The patient whose case is reported here had cutaneous lesions and central nervous system (CNS) signs and symptoms that suggested the diagnosis of malignant atrophic papulosis. The skin lesions had a gross and histologic appearance suggestive of this

Recent epidemiologic evidence has documented both an increase in incidence of and in mortality from malignant melanoma.1 The importance of this relatively uncommon malignant neoplasm (incidence less than 5/100,000 population) is attested to by the fact that despite accounting for only 3% of all cutaneous malignant neoplasms, malignant melanoma causes 67% of the deaths attributable to skin cancer.2 Research interest in melanoma has paralleled its increased frequency, and the current literature is replete with numerous articles that provide new information on the subject. Because of the large volume of new information scattered in numerous journals, the comprehensive review article provides a valuable tool for updating the reader and refreshing his memory on the subject. Recently, Kopf et al2 have written an extensive review of malignant melanoma. The article is current, comprehensive, and well written. The only drawback to the article is its length of more than 80