Actinic keratoses are cell changes in the epidermis that can develop into skin cancer. For most people, it does not cause problems beyond the fact that there are visible spots. Some will feel tenderness or have a burning sensation in the skin. Actinic keratoses appear on the face and backs of the hands, typical places that have been exposed to the sun a lot over many years. Men with little hair often have it on the scalp and women often have it on the legs.
The size of actinic keratoses is from a few millimeters to a few cm. Some people have only one actinic keratosis, but it is more common to have several. The color is slightly red. The surface is rough and flaky, as an expression that the epidermis is slightly thickened. The skin around the actinic keratoses often shows signs of long-term exposure to the sun, and then the skin is pale yellow and dry with brown sunspots and visible blood vessels.
Actinic keratoses occur most frequently in older people and rarely appear before the age of forty. Light skin and UV exposure over several decades increase the risk of developing actinic keratoses. In people with six sunburns during their lifetime, a 50% higher incidence of actinic keratoses was shown in a study than in those without sunburns.
Actinic keratoses can develop into squamous cell carcinoma, a disease that affects over 2,000 Norwegians each year. People with actinic keratoses also have an increased incidence of other types of skin cancer such as basal cell cancer and melanoma (mole cancer).
Actinic keratoses are treated by a dermatologist, either with freezing (liquid nitrogen), creams (imiquimod, ingenol mebutate) or photodynamic therapy.
