Actinic Keratoses
Overview
Actinic keratoses are also known as solar keratoses, and they are rough, small spots that occur on skin too often exposed to the rays of the sun. They commonly occur on people who have a naturally fair complexion, after they have spent years outdoors, exposed to sunlight.
Actinic keratoses are commonly found on the upper chest, back of the neck, scalp and face, although they can also be found on the forearms and the tops of the hands. They are pre-cancerous, meaning that there is a possibility that they may develop into skin cancer. These skin disorders can generally be diagnosed by a physician by simple examination.
How will you know if your skin lesions are actinic keratoses? They are usually small and rough, and the skin they appear on is skin that most often has sun exposure. They’re usually less than a quarter of an inch in size, with a reddish color and sometimes white scales on their tops. These spots are rough, so they sometimes cause pain when you rub clothing against them, such as when you’re putting a shirt on.
Causes:
Actinic keratoses are caused by sun exposure over a prolonged period of time. People with fair skin have a worse chance of developing them, especially if they spend a lot of time outside, for play or work. The skin of such individuals can become discolored, mottled and wrinkled, from exposure to the sun.
Treatment:
The most effective treatment for actinic keratoses is to avoid their development by not spending too much time in the sun, especially if your skin is light. If you’re an adult who has spent a lot of time in the sun, you may be reading this too late to avert the over-exposure that brings on AK’s. The sun damage may already be done. But the treatments available are usually effective.
Cryosurgery involves freezing AK’s with a form of liquid nitrogen. It will usually cause the offending rough spots to slough off. Or, your physician may choose to burn AK’s off, or cut them away.
Sometimes, treatment with creams with fluorouracil can cause AK’s to become inflamed and red before they fall off. Your skin may be uncomfortable for a time, possibly weeks, before the AK falls off.
A newer therapy using a chemical injected into your bloodstream is called photodynamic therapy, and this attracts AK’s to make them more sensitive to specialized forms of light.
After treatment, you should have your skin examined once a year by your physician. He or she can ensure that you haven’t developed new lesions, and that older or untreated affected areas aren’t thickening. This could be a sign of cancer. Continue to avoid sunlight in excess, to lower the chance that you will be affected again.
Men are most likely to find actinic keratoses on the areas described above, as well as on the tops of their ears. Women don’t have them in that area very often; it is believed that their hair probably protects them.
Although AK’s can develop into cancer, in actuality very few of them do, and it is a process that can take years to complete. If the AK becomes malignant, it’s called a squamous cell carcinoma.
Often, when people are told by their physician that they have actinic keratoses, their initial reaction is that they don’t spend that much time in the sun. But these AK’s can develop over years or decades of steady exposure. The exposure that started the AK’s development may have happened many years ago. If you are only in the sun for short periods of time, you will not usually develop AK’s, and if you do, they are not as likely to develop into skin cancer.
