These actinic keratoses or solar keratoses are growths that are usually pink or red and appear as flaky, rough scaly patches or areas of skin and they may also be light gray or brown and feel hard, rough, or gritty.
2. Etymology: "actinic" is from Greek aktis, "ray" and refers to the ultraviolet rays, as in sunlight, that can cause reaction in the skin; so, a "sunbrn" is an actinic injury while keras is a Greek element for "horn".
Solar keratoses, or senile keratosis, is more common with fair skinned and elderly people and it may be a discrete, slightly raised, red-on-pink lesion located on a sun-exposed surface.
Such conditions can be prevented by decreasing oneself to sun exposure and by wearing sunscreen.
Actinic keratosis usually can be removed by freezing with liquid nitrogen (cryotherapy), however if a person has too many growths, a liquid or cream containing fluorouracil may be applied.
Often, during such treatment, the skin temporarily looks worse because fluorouracil causes redness, scaling, and burning of the keratoses and of the surrounding sun-damaged skin.
A relatively new drug, imiquimod, is useful in treating actinic keratosis because it helps the immune system to recognize and to destroy cancerous skin growths.
Another treatment includes cutting the keratosis away by burning them with photodynamic therapy by means of injecting ia chemical into the bloodstream that collects in the actinic keratoses and makes them more sensitive to destruction by a specialized form of light.
Seborrheic keratosis is usually found in persons over 30 years old and may be only a few or even numerous.