Case 3. A 67-year-old male was referred by a Dermatologist with a 2-month history of biopsy proven squamous cell carcinoma present on each hand. The lesion on the right hand involved the middle finger and third webspace and the lesion on the left hand involved only the dorsum. There was no sign of axillary lymphadenopathy bilaterally. This gentleman suffered from COPD, had a tracheostomy in situ for previous T4 vocal cord tumour and was a heavy smoker.\nHe underwent amputation of the right middle and ring fingers at the level of the MCPJ and was reconstructed using a fillet flap from ring finger. Histology reported a moderately differentiated, 17 mm thick SCC. His recovery was unmarkable and recurrence was not detected within the first post-operative year. Unfortunately, he died following sequelae of the vocal cord tumour ().
Case 6. An 84-year-old female presented to the Plastic Surgery Department following a non-healing ulcer on her right hand, wrist and forearm. She sustained a hot oil scald to both upper limbs at the age of 23 whilst living in Kenya. The burns were excised and resurfaced with a split thickness skin graft. Unfortunately, she developed an unstable scar on the right upper limb since her injury and has been managed with dressings and antibiotics. Skin biopsies were performed intermittently over the years which revealed inflammatory changes only, however, 6 years since the last skin biopsy, a 7mm thick well differentiated SCC was reported. The patient had one palpable lymph node in the right axilla however fine needle aspiration cytology and CT showed no evidence of metastasis. Due to the extensive nature of ulceration and poor skin quality of the adjacent areas it was decided that amputation of the hand at the level of the mid forearm was most appropriate. She has healed well and has showed no sign of recurrence nor metastasis 1 month post-operatively ().