Derm Terms: Notes from a San Francisco Bay Area Dermatologist

In dermatology, there are lots of terms for various spots and lesions that may appear on the skin.  These terms can be confusing, especially if you aren’t sure which are the “bad” kinds and which are less of a worry.

One of the most common terms is actinic keratoses or AKs, which are most often seen on the face, ears, lips and backs of hands, but can appear on any sun damaged area of the skin.  AKs are spots where the top layer of skin is dividing too rapidly.  They usually show up as a dry, scaly and rough textured patches of skin.  They may be brownish, red or flesh colored.  Some may even be crusty..

AKs tend to arise more frequently after age forty, but if you are fair skinned with light colored eyes and have had average to heavy sun exposure they may appear earlier.

AKs are also called “precancers” because if left untreated, they have the potential to progress into squamous cell carcinoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer.  Because of this potential, it is important to have any AKs treated as they come up.  Cosmetically, they make the skin appear more aged and makeup doesn’t cover them very well.

Treatment may include cryosurgery (freezing the spot with liquid nitrogen), numbing the area and scraping the lesion off or use of a prescription cream that targets the damaged cells and destroys them.  Luckily, most AK treatments are fairly inconspicuous and the recovery time is minimal.  For more extreme cases or areas where there are too many precancers to treat individually, we may use PDT or photodynamic therapy treatment.  This process involves a light microdermabrasion to the skin, followed by the application of a chemical that is activated by a laser to eradicate the errant skin cells.  This treatment requires you to stay indoors 24 hours afterward.  The result is skin that will look, feel and be much healthier.

To prevent AKs and skin cancer, sun safety is always your best bet.  Always apply and re-apply sunscreen to exposed areas of skin and do your best to stay out of the sun!

I can never say enough about the benefits of topical retinoids like Retin-A, Refissa, Atralin or Retin-A Microgel, but yet another positive point is that they can actually help the skin ward off AKs.  Their exfoliating properties keep these damaged cells from taking hold and help the skin stay smooth.

As always, if you notice any new spots or moles that have changed, have a dermatologist look at them for any potential issues.  Be sure to check in with the blog as more derm terms will be discussed!

Tags: actinic keratoses, AKs, atralin, bay area dermatologist, PDT, photodynamic therapy, precancer, retin-a, retinoid, san francisco dermatologist, skin cancer

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Skin Health, Treatments. 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.