The relationship between basal cell carcinoma and lymphoma was investigated in 63 patients with both diagnoses who were seen at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center between 1949 and 1984. The majority of patients were diagnosed with lymphoma before the onset of their first basal cell carcinoma. Multiple basal cell carcinomas developed in most patients. The overall recurrence rate of basal cell carcinoma was high (17%), and metastatic disease developed in one patient. These data support a more aggressive behavior of basal cell carcinomas in patients with lymphoma than in otherwise healthy individuals.