Abstract

We described a patient with Bowen's disease for whom re-operation was necessary ten years and eight months after the first operation because of recurrence. A 71-year-old Japanese man with a 28×26-mm areas of erythema surrounded by brownish plaques on the waist visited our clinic in December 1985. He had been worked at several mines in Japan about for 30 years. He had not suffered from syphilis and had taken no medicine containing arsenic. Bowen's disease was diagnosed on the basis of histology. Surgery was carried out in February 1986. However, in October 1996, he visited our clinic complaining of a 40×44mm area of brownish plaque at the operation scar on the waist. Re-operation was done, and the brownish plaque was resected leaving a margin of more than 5mm. It is not yet clear whether he had been exposed to arsenic without his knowledge while working in the mines. We think that the tumor recurred because the initial resection had not been complete due to the ill-defined borders of the lesion.