How Well Do Patients Really Know Their Own Skin Cancer History?

A research letter in Archives of Dermatological Research raises concerns about how accurately patients report their own sun-driven skin lesion histories. The study, led by Joseph McGrath and colleagues including Evelyn Fagan, Kaeli Samson, Yue Zhan, and Adam Sutton, compared patient-reported histories with clinical verification. The authors focus on actinic keratoses and keratinocyte carcinomas, two of the most common lesions dermatologists see. The article explains that recall can be unreliable because many actinic keratoses are treated with destructive approaches like cryotherapy, where lesions are not sent for pathology, leaving patients unsure what was truly confirmed. It also describes how keratinocyte carcinomas include basal cell and squamous cell cancers and notes broader challenges due to aging and cumulative ultraviolet exposure.