What Is Solar Keratosis?
Solar (actinic) keratosis is a skin condition caused by over-exposure of the skin to sunlight over many years. Solar keratoses are usually patches of dry, scaly skin. They can vary from light to dark and can be red, tan, pink, a combination of all these or the same colour as normal skin. They are often flat, but are sometimes raised (bumps), especially when they are on the arms or hands. It is quite common for a whole group of solar keratoses to appear at once and they may join to form a larger lesion, but single patches are normally less than 1cm across. The usual places they appear are the scalp, face, forehead, backs of hands and forearms and, particularly for women, the lower half of the leg. Why does sunlight cause solar keratosis? Sunlight contains ultraviolet (UV) light / radiation. The amount of UV present in sunlight varies depending on where you live, the time of the year and the time of day. UV light is responsible for the normal ageing of the skin including the development
