A skin metastasis of the tip of the nose from an esophageal carcinoma treated by whole nasal reconstruction: A case report

A skin metastasis is thought to be the end-stage manifestation of a malignant tumor. The prognosis in patients with skin metastases from esophageal carcinoma is worse than with other types of carcinoma. According to previous reports, patients with esophageal carcinoma who develop skin metastases die between 3 weeks and 18 months after the appearance of the metastases. Recently, however, there have been reports of improved quality of life following the surgical excision of metastatic skin tumors. We removed a skin metastasis from the tip of the nose of a patient with esophageal carcinoma and reconstructed the nose with a scalping forehead flap. The removal of this metastasis improved the patient's quality of life. We discuss this result with a review of the literature.