Abstract: Autophagy is a lysosome-based degradation process of intracellular macromolecules or organelles.Recent research has suggested that autophagy exists in keratinocytes and is involved in keratinocyte differentiation.Senesceut keratinocytes die by autophagic programmed cell death.It has been demonstrated that autophagy is induced in some epithelial tumors,which may be associated with their invasiveness and metastasis.Autophagy can alleviate the inflammation in keratinocytes.Moreover,autophagy may be responsible for pharmacologic actions of some drugs,such as calcipotriol,aminolevulinic acid and 5-fluorouracil.In addition,autophagy may be involved in the formation of giant melanin granules and melanosomes in keratinocytes and melanocytes.This paper summarizes the roles of autophagy in keratinocytes.