Lipoma in Shoulder Has Basal Cell Carcinoma. Any More Insight?

Wow! That must have been a surprise for you and your surgeon. By definition lipomas are a different type of tissue so you cant have a basal cell develop in this type of subcutaneous fat. Basal cells are cutaneous or skin tumors. I actually had a patient with a similar problem. The only way that I can postulate what happened is you must have had a basal cell over the lipoma that was scraped or treated by another method. It was probably incompletely treated and the skin healed over the remaining tumor cells and the basal cell then was able to grow subcutaneously. The good news is it is fully treatable with surgical excision alone!!

You are correct that basal cell cancers are usually found in the skin and not in the underling fatty tissues, where most lipomas are found.  Ask your doctor for a copy of the pathology report and have him/her review it with you, to determine exactly where the basal cell cancer was seen.  also ask your doctor if they recommend any further treatment or follow up.  Best wishes.