The aim of this study is to investigate p53, bcl-2 and bax expressions in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and nontumoral surrounding epidermis. p53, bcl-2 and bax expression was investigated by streptavidin-biotin-peroxidase technique in 54 solid type BCCs, and immunoreactivity was evaluated as negative (-), mild (+1), moderate (+2) and marked positive (+3). The mean age of the patients was 62 years. Forty two tumors were located on the head neck, 3 on the extremities and 1 on the trunk. Fourty one and 13 BCCs were solid nodular and infitrative types, respectively. In the nontumoral epidermis, p53 positivity was detected in 66.7% of the cases. While basal cells and hair follicles were positive with bcl-2, heterogeneous suprabasal bax positivity was observed in surrounding nontumoral epidermis. In BCCs, p53 was positive in 41 (75.9%) of the cases. There was a statistically positive correlation between nontumoral epidermis and BCC in relation to p53 immunoreactivity (p=0.004, r=0.392). In addition, the level of p53 positivity in the BCCs having p53 positive nontumoral epidermis was statistically higher than the negative cases (p=0.034). With bcl-2, usually homogeneous high levels of bcl-2 positivity were found in 40 (74.5%) cases, and bax showed heterogeneous positivity in 24 (43.6%) BCCs. There was a significant positive correlation between bcl-2 and bax expression (p=0.039, r=0.282). Considering tumor growth pattern, bcl-2 was higher in solid nodular BCCs than the infiltrative types (p=0.002. According to our findings, the presence of high percentage of p53 positivity in both nontumoral epidermis and BCC may show the association between p53 and chronic sun damage and the importance of UV in the etiopathogenesis of BCC. High level of bcl-2 expression in BCCs is decreased in the infiltrative type BCC. Although these findings show that bax protein is involved in apoptosis regulation and it has a positive correlation with bcl-2 in the BCCs, there was no association with tumor growth pattern.