I haven tanned in years! How is it possible that I have actinic keratosis?
Actinic keratosis is a disorder that can take many years from the initial sun damage that induced the disorder to fully develop. Sun damage is also cumulative, meaning that every time you expose yourself to the sun, you accumulate some amount of sun damage. Unfortunately, this means that bad sun habits can come to haunt you in later years, even if you have since done well to protect yourself from the sun. Finally, while sun damage is the main factor, there may be other factors such as the immune system quality, smoking, stress, and chronic inflammation that affect a person’s likelihood of developing this condition. • Actinic keratosis can take years to develop after the initial lesion causing damage has been done. AKs can present as a response to sun damage from long ago.
