Actinic Keratosis - Info on Actinic Keratosis Symptom, Causes & Treatment

What is Actinic Keratosis ?

Actinic keratosis can be the first step in the development of skin cancer, and, therefore, is a precursor of cancer or a precancer. Those who develop actinic keratoses tend to be fair-skinned people who have spent a lot of time outdoors at work or at play over the course of many years. Their skin often becomes wrinkled, mottled, and discolored from sun exposure, sun exposure is the cause of almost all actinic keratoses.

Actinic Keratosis is a very common type of skin disorders but is very dangerous also. Actinic Keratosis are difficult to see, they feel rough and are sometimes scaly. Actinic keratosis usually are 2mm to 4mm in diameter and primarily are found on areas exposed to the sun, including your face, lips, ears, back of your hands, forearms, scalp and neck. There may be a single lesion or more. Later, lesions can develop a hard, wart-like surface.

Here you find all terms related to Actinic Keratosis, like symptoms, causes and effective treatment. Actinic keratosis is a precancerous skin growth caused by sun damage. Actinic keratoses are mainly due to long-term exposure to the sun in susceptible persons and may progress to squamous cell carcinoma. The presence of actinic keratoses indicates that sun damage has occurred and that any kind of skin cancer -- not just squamous cell carcinoma can develop.

What are the causes of Actinic Keratosis ?

The cause of the Actinic Keratosis is Repeated, prolonged sun exposure . People with actinic keratosis are more likely to develop melanoma also. Sun exposure is the cause of almost all actinic keratoses.

Symptoms of Actinic Keratosis

Some of the common symptoms of Actinic Keratosis includes :-

• Rough and dry textured skin lesion.
• Patches or small spots on the skin.
• Initially flat and scaly on the surface, becoming slightly raised.
• May appear as red-brown to yellow ill-defined macules, papules, or plaques with dry scales.
• Actinic keratoses is most commonly involve sun-exposed areas of the head, neck, arms, legs, and backs of the hands.

Treatment of Actinic Keratosis - With Home Remedies

Different Types of Treatment For Actinic Keratosis are available, some are :

• surgery or by freezing with liquid nitrogen
• 5-FU (5-fluorouracil) cream
• sunscreen use (SPF 15 or higher)
• Retin-A ( Renova ), alpha hydroxyacid lotion and beta hydroxyacid

Therapy for actinic keratosis must be individualized. The approach to treatment selected for a particular patient depends upon many variables, including the following:

• The type, location, and extent of the lesions
• Changes in a lesion that may indicate malignancy
• Experience and training of the physician
• Success of previous treatment
• Patient preference
• Cost of treatment

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