Actinic keratosis (pronounced ak-TIN-ik ker-uh-TOE-sis) is sometimes referred to as solar keratosis as it essentially means that it is a sun-induced change in the condition of your skin.
It is typically not something found in younger people as it develops after many years of the skin being exposed to the sun.
It will predominantly affect the back of your hands, chest, face, lips, ears, forearms, scalp and/or any areas of your body that are regularly exposed to the sun.
The signs and symptoms look out for include:
As they are not always that visible to the naked eye or easy to see under clothing, the most common way to detect anything is therefore by feel.
As you are likely to be the one who is most familiar with your own skin, this is something you can check for very effectively by yourself.
Called the solar keratosis sometimes, it is caused by frequent, regular or intense exposure to UV rays over the years, either directly from the sun, or via tanning salons.
It will begin in the epidermis, which is the skin's outermost, top layer. Although as thin as a pencil line, it provides an excellent protective layer of skin cells that your body continually sheds and renews.
In a normal, healthy skin, the epidermis skin cells develop in a very controlled, orderly way. Healthy new cells will push older cells toward the skin's surface, where they die and are then sloughed off.
UV radiation from either sunshine or tanning lamps, that ends up damaging the skin, will actually alter the skin's texture and color, causing blotchiness and bumps or lesions. This damage adds up over the years, but only makes itself known after many years have passed.
So, the more time you spend in the sun or in a tanning booth, the greater your chance of developing any skin cancer.
Besides knowing this, there are many risk factors that you can become aware of and choose to take extra sun protection precautions:
Although most doctors or skin specialists tend to regard actinic keratosis as precancerous, it is actually quite difficult to distinguish between noncancerous spots and cancerous ones.
However, if a spot or lesion on your skin persists in worrying you, go and see your doctor or ask for a referral to a dermatologist.
Take heed of the following signs if your skin:
At any time you may wish to, you can obtain an opinion or diagnosis for a skin growth you are suspicious about. However, a skin biopsy is usually only required to ensure there is no cancer present when the suspected actinic keratosis is quite large or has become thick in appearance. This will usually be a squamous cell skin cancer.
Basically, if it is possible, you are always safer to see a skin specialist if you notice areas of persistent roughness or scaliness in areas where you have exposed your skin to the sun.
The actinic keratosis growths are not defined as dangerous, or in cancer terms, are considered benign.
However, because roughly 5% will develop into squamous cell skin cancers, most people, together with their skin specialists, will opt to have them removed.
Depending on how well your skins heals, at the very worst you may have some tissue scarring, and the very least have a bit of an irritating or uncomfortable time while the skin grows.
What this will do is prevent the growth of squamous cell skin cancer, which will most likely result in your having it physically removed anyway.
Sometimes it will resolve or heal on its own, or you think it has, but then returns again after exposure to the sun again. Some people just scratch or pick it off, but then find that it returns regardless and so they repeat the cycle.
Squamous cell skin cancer resulting from actinic keratosis treatment options by physical removal include:
If the actinic keratoses has spread to such an extent that it covers a large area, the following treatments may be an option:
It must be expected that any of these type of treatments will often leave your skin in a very delicate and irritated state.
The resultant uncomfortable redness may stay for many days while your skin heals itself. During this time you need to treat your skin with extra love and care and definitely avoid the sun!