Actinic keratosis which is also known as a solar keratosis is a spot that occurs on the skin due to chronic exposure to the sun. This spot is small, tough, and measures between 2 – 6 mm in diameter. Besides, the spot is usually reddish and has a rough texture with a scalp on top. The scalp may be white or yellow.

It is worth noting that an actinic keratosis occurs against a background of damages caused by the sun, which may include wrinkles, superficial blood vessels, or even sallowness. Those suffering from it experience pain and soreness when a finger or cloth rubs against the scalp. Actinic keratoses later lead to cancer, and those who develop this condition are mostly light skinned people who expose themselves to sunlight for long. Their skin becomes wrinkled and discolored as a result especially in the face, back of neck, upper chest and top of hands.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 5th, 2010 at 8:24 am and is filed under Skin Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.