Introduction: The skin is the largest organ of the body. Skin tumors are abnormal growths of tissues that can be malignant or benign. Tumors of cutaneous appendages are uncommon, classified into tumors of sweat gland, hairfollicle and sebaceous gland. Aim: To study the spectrum of skin and adnexal tumors with respect to age, sex, and histopathological pattern. Materials and Methods: Present study is a retrospective study from Jan 2016 to June 2017 at department of pathology Shimoga institute of medical sciences, shimoga. All the specimens of skin /cutaneous adnexal tumors were analyzed and lesions were categorized according to WHO classification system. Results: out of 50 skin tumors, 38 were benign and 12 were malignant with benign to malignant ration of 3.16:1. Incidence of benign epidermal/keratinocytic tumors were highest 29 cases (58%), followed by adnexal tumors 13 cases (26%) and melanocytic tumors 8cases (16%). Maximum number of benign tumors was seen in 3rd and 4th decade of life and malignant tumors in 6th and 7th decade of life. Conclusion: Benign tumors were common in middle age where as malignant tumors showed an ascending trend in age. Most of the tumors were male predominant .Melanocytic tumors were female predominant. Keratinocytic tumors were the commonest lesion which included warts, seborrheic keratosis and fibroepithelial polyps (8% each). Among the malignant tumors squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was commonest (66.6%) followed by basal cell carcinoma (22.2%).

Keywords: Skin/ Adnexal Tumors; Age; Sex Distribution.