Again, SCC is most often caused by too much sun exposure. This may sometimes be the case for people with HS who develop SCC in areas of skin that aren’t typically hidden in skin folds or by clothing. Other factors, including chronic inflammation and immunosuppression, may also play a role in how squamous cell cancer occurs and behaves when it’s associated with HS.
A chief concern is inflammation, which can make any type of cancer worse, says Luis Andres Garza, MD, PhD, a professor of dermatology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The inflammation that happens in the body from HS may be part of the increased likelihood of squamous cell skin cancer, he adds.
Another unique factor of squamous cell carcinoma in HS is location. “HS primarily occurs in places where skin rubs on skin,” says Rita Pichardo, MD, a dermatologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who runs an HS clinic. “These regions can be chronically inflamed for many years. That makes certain regions in the body — the vulvar, perianal, and perineal areas — especially prone to developing skin cancer.”
A review of studies published in 2021 looked at SCC as a result of HS and found that the most common sites of the cancer were the buttocks, the perianal region, and the genitals.
