INTRODUCTION
Marjolin’s ulcers are a cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) found in tissue that has been previously traumatised and subsequently healed, such as chronic wounds, including diabetic or vascular leg ulcers, or an old burn scar. There is a long latent period (which can be over 30 years) from original insult to malignant transformation, and risk of malignancy varies depending on type of wound but is estimated to occur in 0.5% of vascular ulcers and 1%–2% of burn scars.1,2 This article discusses a case referred from general practice to the authors’ UK burns centre with a new non-healing wound in a previously completely healed scar, more than 40 years after initial burn.
PRESENTATION
A 56-year-old female presented with a 65 × 30 mm lesion in the right axilla in the scar of a flame injury that had occurred 48 years earlier. The wound had appeared spontaneously 2 years previously and enlarged and progressed over 6 months to a non-healing ulcer, causing itching, pain, and intermittent bleeding. There was …
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