Further outpatient care is necessary after the treatment of an individual suffering from actinic keratosis to ensure that the infection does not reoccur. Lesions of actinic keratosis which do not respond to topical treatments can be dealt with using cryotherapy. Cyotherapy involves the use of freezing liquid Nitrogen which can be sprayed on the lesions for between 5-20 seconds. This will result in the ulceration and irritation of the lesions and eventually the lesions are cut off from the skin. In order to rule out an invasive carcinoma on a patient, it is very important to conduct a biopsy of the more advanced indurated lesions.
Deterrence and preventive measures must be performed on an outpatient and it should be noted that the severity of the actinic keratosis lesions is directly proportional to the exposure of the skin to the sun. Reduction of sun exposure as well as protective sunscreen can prevent actinic keratosis or its re-occurrence. People who work extensively outdoors should limit their outdoor working ours, and wearing protective clothings are very essential.
One of the bad side of actinic keratosis is that the lesions may progress further into the more invasive squamous cell carcinoma, conducting a comprehensive biopsy on the undulated lesions, non- responsive lesions and nodular lesions will help detect whether such lesions are invasive or not. Actinic keratosis lesions can be managed individual with proper surveillance and treatments. The possibilities of the lesions turning to invasive lesions can also be retarded through aggressive therapies and protection of the skin from excessive exposure.
Patients who suffer from actinic keratosis lesions which are unresponsive to cryosurgery and topical treatments can benefit from skin resurfacing therapies through microdermabrassion, laser resurfacing, or chemical peeling. Metastasis is does not occur most times in actinic keratosis except when such tumours have been neglected . This means that enlarging nodular lesions should be subjected to biopsy to ascertain its progressive rate.
Enlarging nodular lesions { especially those advancing beyond 2 mm} should be adequately treated because such progressing lesions can lead to more invasive squamous cell carcinoma. The earlier the treatment of actinic keratosis lesions the better it is in managing the progression, moderately sized and small size lesions can be effectively treated before they expand , however expanding lesions may become quite hard to treat. Proper after care and monitoring of treated keratosis lesions will help slow down the possibility of reoccurrence.
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