Actinic Keratosis

An actinic keratosis is a rough, scaly patch on your skin that develops from years of exposure to the sun. It's most commonly found on your face, lips, ears, back of your hands, forearms, scalp or neck. Also known as solar keratosis, an actinic keratosis enlarges slowly and usually causes no signs or symptoms other than a patch or small spot on your skin. 

Over time, actinic keratoses may develop into invasive squamous cell carcinoma; according to one study of almost 7000 patients, among the small percentage of actinic keratoses that progress into squamous cell carcinoma, the length of time for this transformation to occur was approximately 2 years.Cells within actinic keratoses (AKs) show characteristic UV-induced gene mutations.

Studies addressing the association of the patient’s immune status and actinic cheilosis are also lacking, but the inverse association between the patient’s immune status and frequency of developing actinic keratoses of the lip is profound. The risk of a transplant patient developing SCC is directly proportional to the level of therapeutic immunosuppression.

In most cases, actinic keratosis can be treated and cured. The result is more favorable if the disease is detected in its early stages. Treatment options include: • Topical creams or lotions • Cryosurgery (freezing) • Electro-surgery (use of an electric current) The modern treatment today is the laser peel such as Lotus II (see video) Lotus II is a Diffractive Micro Fractional Erbium Yag Laser which irradiate micro laser spots on the affected area painless, quickly and leaving no scars so the patients can resume social activity immediately after treatment.