Known as a potentially cancerous skin condition, actinic keratosis is characterized by skin that is scaly, crusty, and thick. The ones who are more often than not exposed to the sun, and those who are fair-skinned, are the ones who have the highest tendency on suffering from this skin condition. Having this kind of keratosis often leads to getting worse inasmuch as progressing into squamous cell carcinoma which is the second most common type of skin cancer. The danger of suffering from squamous cell carcinoma can heighten if you neglect actinic keratosis. Basically, the ideal thing to do is to treat actinic keratosis before it ends up getting worse.
The most common type of skin, which is the keratinocyte, can be affected by UV radiation leading to either mutation or failure. The flaking, uneven skin is caused by the thickening of the epidermis. The distinctions of the skin result in making the skin appear to have a wart-like look.
If the importance of actinic keratosis removal is disregarded, something worse is likely to happen. Once the effect of actinic keratosis is left unnoticed, the most common condition that the skin can suffer from is squamous cell carcinoma caused by the damaging of the flat and thin squamous cells by the UV radiation from the sun. Actinic keratosis must be attended immediately in order to ward off the occurrence of worse conditions.
There are several actinic keratosis treatments that you can choose from depending on the severity of your skin condition as well as your budget. For one, you can consider laser treatment as the most effective solution to the problem. However, this kind of treatment, particularly CO2 and Er-YAG may cost you a lot.
Another way to cure actinic keratosis is the use of 5-fluorouracil. This kind of cream is typically for chemotherapy; but when it comes to actinic keratosis, it blocks the reproduction of anomalous cells. The irregular cells are the ones that absorb the fluorouracil quicker—that is why the healthy skin cells are not affected to the highest degree. Although there are side effects with the use of this cream, you can look ahead to having the results that you want.
Imiquimod, a medication that acts as an immune response modifier, is another cream used on treating actinic keratosis. When applied to the skin, agony can be particularly experienced.
Electrocautery is a method of burning off areas affected in actinic keratosis. This is a form of cautery which is an apparatus used on sealing a wound or destroying infected or damaged tissues by the use of burning. Cryosurgery is a related method but it uses lower temperature on burning off the areas of the skin that are involved.
Before you take into consideration one of the treatments mentioned, you must make it a point to consult a doctor first. Undergoing any treatment requires proper checking of your overall health. At the end of the day, it is you who will greatly benefit from the removal of actinic keratosis.
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