All about Actinic keratosis
Actinic keratosis is an area of the skin damaged by ultraviolet radiation that appears in zones exposed to the sun for years. Its appearance is variable.
How is actinic keratosis treated?
It is important to treat actinic keratosis, in order to prevent its progression into an invasive skin cancer.
Currently, there is a wide range of possibilities to treat actinic keratosis. The choice of treatment will be based on the assessment made by your dermatologist in conjunction with the opinion of the patient.
Broadly speaking, treatments can be divided into 2 groups:
Treatments applied in consultation
These treatments (cryotherapy, surgery, curettage, laser or conventional photodynamic therapy) are performed by the doctor and are usually indicated for isolated lesions (except for photodynamic therapy that is also indicated for treating the field of cancerization).
References
1. About AK (v1.0) De Berker D, Mcgregor JM, Mohd Mustapa MF, Exton LS, Hughes BR. British Association of Dermatologists’ guidelines for the care of patients with actinic keratosis 2017. Br J Dermatol [Internet]. 2017 [cited 2020 Feb 19]; 176(1):20-43. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjd.15107