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No sponsorships or competing interests have been disclosed for this article. Objective. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCCa) has increased from 4 % to 10 % over 4 decades, stimulating interest in developing novel agents that slow sun-damaged skin pro-gression. This is the first study evaluating the naturally occurring bioactive food compound curcumin on skin cancer xenografts. Low bioavailability of curcumin has slowed its transition to clinical trials. It is hypothesized that curcumin has growth-inhibitory effects through the MTOR pathway and chemopreventive potential in skin SCCa where local application could bypass bioavailability problems. Study Design. A randomized experimental animal and labora-tory study