What Is Skin Cancer?
Skin cancer, the abnormal growth of skin cells, most often develops on skin exposed to the sun. But this common form of cancer can also occur on areas of your skin not ordinarily exposed to sunlight.
There are three major types of skin cancer—basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma.
Causes of Skin Cancer
Skin cancer begins in your skin’s top layer—the epidermis. The epidermis is a thin layer that provides a protective cover of skin cells that your body continually sheds. The epidermis contains three main types of cells:
Where your skin cancer begins determines its type and your treatment options.
Much of the damage to DNA in skin cells results from ultraviolet, or UV, radiation found in sunlight and in the lights used in tanning beds. But sun exposure doesn’t explain skin cancers that develop on skin not ordinarily exposed to sunlight. This indicates that other factors may contribute to your risk of skin cancer, such as being exposed to toxic substances or having a condition that weakens your immune system.
Ranking Actinic Keratosis Treatments: What Works Best?
Actinic Keratosis
Actinic keratosis blemishes are rough, dry, tan- or pink-colored and often appear on facial skin—near the eyes, or on the nose, ears, or lips—or on other parts of the body that receive intense sunlight, such as the backs of the hands. They are most common in fair-skinned, middle-aged, or elderly individuals, who may have a single lesion or many.
This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.See Photoactinic keratosis.DermNet /CC BY-NC-ND
This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.See Photo
This photo contains content that some people may find graphic or disturbing.
Actinic keratosis can lead to more serious invasivesquamous cell carcinoma(SCC) if left untreated. It is estimated that 40%–60% of SCCs begin as actinic keratosis.
Treatments include cryotherapy (freezing); curettage (scraping); laser ablation; photodynamic therapy; and topical (skin-only) creams such as fluorouracil, diclofenac, and imiquimod.The choice of treatment depends on the location of the lesion, how many there are, and the preferences of the patient.
Actinic Keratosis vs. Basal Cell Carcinoma: Differences and Similarities
4 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What is skin cancer?Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093Skin Cancer Foundation.Squamous cell carcinoma: risk factors.Gutzmer R, Wiegand S, Kölbl O, Wermker K, Heppt M, Berking C.Actinic keratosis and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019;116(37):616–626. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2019.0616
4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What is skin cancer?Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093Skin Cancer Foundation.Squamous cell carcinoma: risk factors.Gutzmer R, Wiegand S, Kölbl O, Wermker K, Heppt M, Berking C.Actinic keratosis and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019;116(37):616–626. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2019.0616
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What is skin cancer?Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093Skin Cancer Foundation.Squamous cell carcinoma: risk factors.Gutzmer R, Wiegand S, Kölbl O, Wermker K, Heppt M, Berking C.Actinic keratosis and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019;116(37):616–626. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2019.0616
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.What is skin cancer?
Wessely A, Steeb T, Heppt F, et al.A critical appraisal of evidence- and consensus-based guidelines for actinic keratosis.Curr Oncol. 2021;28(1):950-960. doi:10.3390/curroncol28010093
Skin Cancer Foundation.Squamous cell carcinoma: risk factors.
Gutzmer R, Wiegand S, Kölbl O, Wermker K, Heppt M, Berking C.Actinic keratosis and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019;116(37):616–626. doi:10.3238/arztebl.2019.0616
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