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Apart from the skin on the extremities, the skin of the head, face and neck is more subject to melanomas than any other part of the body. The most favourable prognosis is for melanomas of the cheek and neck cutis. Melanomas of the upper respiratory tract are much less common. The diagnosis of mouth is astonishingly tardive. Malignant melanomas very rarely occur on the salivary glands. In all the above cases surgery is the treatment of choice for all primary tumours. In the cases of local lymph node melanomas, elective dissection appears to give the best long-term results, especially in the case of cutaneous melanomas of the head, neck and upper respiratory tract.

Resection of locoregional recurrences was performed after mastectomy in 50 cases in the period 1961-1974. An incidence of 2% to 35% is reported for such recurrences, which are due to a variety of factors. In the present series, attention was directed to age at mastectomy and at recurrence, size of primary tumour, presence of axillary metastases, and details of menarche, menopause and pregnancy. Mean age at mastectomy was 50 yr and at recurrence 53 yr. Tumour diameter ranged from 2 to 5 cm in 73% of cases. Lympho node metastases were present in 42%. In 80%, the recurrence was paracicatricial, in 13% parasternal, and in 7% axillary. Treatment consisted of resection, radiochemotherapy or endocrino-ablative management.