A palmar dermatosis linked to occult carcinoma of the upper thorax, head and neck: Bazex's syndrome and tripe palm. An unusual, persistent, corregated-to-honeycombed thickening of the palms accompanied by tenderness around the fingernails was found to be a cutaneous marker for internal malignancy. This combination of signs and symptoms has been reported under two clinical entities: Bazex's syndrome and tripe palm. This paraneoplastic syndrome is of interest to head and neck surgeons due to the location of the primary tumor, the site of metastatic disease, and the ability to cure the cutaneous disease by surgical removal of the primary tumor. In our patient, a squamous cell carcinoma of the lung not detectable on chest x-ray presented as a cervical mass accompanied by cutaneous changes on the palms and fingernails. Recognition of the relationship of the dermatologic changes to malignancy of a specific body region eventually led to the detection of the primary tumor. The characteristics of these paraneoplastic syndromes were reviewed in this report. 