What Does the Occurrence of Actinic Keratoses Signify?
The occurrence of actinic keratoses is indicative of the development of the cancer of the skin, and hence is a pre-cancerous condition of the skin. But, the process of turning cancerous takes a number of years, besides very few of the actinic keratoses actually do turn malignant. When they do turn cancerous, the condition is known as squamous cell carcinoma. This type of cancer is not life threatening, generally, especially when there is early detection and treatment. In case that is not done, it can result in ulceration, bleeding, and infection, with the ulcers growing large in size and invading the tissues nearby, with chances of them metastasizing, or spreading to other parts of the body. Damage to the skin by the sun takes a long time to accumulate, often requiring a lifetime of exposure to the sun. Recent exposure to the sun or short periods in the sun usually does not lead to actinic keratosis or them developing into cancer of the skin. Those whose skin is fair, have gray, blue,
