WHAT IS ACTINIC KERATOSIS?
To anyone who has never come across actinic keratosis, also known as solar keratosis, it begins as a scaly or crusty bump that arises on the skin’s surface. The base may be light or dark, tan, pink, red, a combination of these, or the same color as your skin. Over time the lesion may itch, become inflamed or in extreme cases, bleed. The lump develops slowly and generally reaches the size of an eighth to a quarter of an inch, and they can breakout together in large numbers. Actinic keratosis is usually found on the face, ears, scalp, neck, backs of the hands and forearms, shoulders, and lips. Most predominately, parts of the body most often exposed to sunshine. People may also have up to 10 times as many subclinical (invisible) lesions as visible, surface lesions. WHY IS IT DANGEROUS Actinic keratosis is often regarded as the primary stage of skin cancer which is why it is so commonly referred to as a precancer. When left untreated, about two to five percent of these lesions may progres
