Background: Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) of the ear can result in large defects with significant morbidity.
Objective: To determine whether subanatomic location of NMSCs, based on ease of visualization of the ear, correlated with post-Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) defect size.
Methods: A retrospective chart review of 142 post-MMS ear lesions was performed and categorized according to subanatomic location: the helix, antihelix, and tragus (Location 1); retroauricular (Location 2); and conchal bowl, scapha, and triangular fossa (Location 3).
Results: The average defect sizes were 2.50 cm(2) (Location 1), 5.76 cm(2) (Location 2), and 4.03 cm(2) (Location 3). Tumors in Location 1 were significantly smaller than those occurring in Location 2 (P<.001) and Location 3 (P<.01), but a significant difference in size was not seen between Locations 2 and 3 (P=.16). As a control group, we randomly selected 50 NMSC cases from the nose and found the average defect size of nose NMSCs to be 1.58 cm(2).
Conclusions: MMS defects of the ear are larger in nonvisible parts of the ear. As a group, MMS defects on the ear were larger than those on the nose.