Is it true that actinic keratosis is a kind of cancer?
Actinic keratosis is not cancer. They are, however, precancerous lesions, meaning that they can develop later into skin cancer, in this case, a cancer called Squamous Cell Carcinoma, which has the potential to spread into internal organs. While the chances of malignant changes occurring are relatively low, there is no reliable method that predicts which ones will become cancerous later. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that actinic keratosis be properly treated. • Actinic Keratosis is not cancer. While it is an actinic keratosis, it will not spread to other parts of the body through metastasis. • While the chances of an individual actinic keratosis lesion progressing into skin cancer is very low, there is no method to accurately predict which actinic keratoses will later become cancer, and thus, it is recommended that all cases of AK development be taken seriously • It is strongly advised that actinic keratoses are removed as a certain percentage of them will later develop i
