Anyone ever had actinic keratosis?

[bemm123]

I have had this tiny red completely flat spot on my face for a year or so. I finally went to a dermatologist, and he said it was an actinic keratosis. He made it sound like it was very common, but when I went to fill my prescription for it, the pharmacy said they didn't even carry the drug. The pharmacist also didn't even know what it was. :confused: So, if this really is so common, I'm kind of wondering how people are usually treated for it. Pictures I've seen on the Internet also make it look like these are usually large, raised, crusty lesions, but mine is tiny and very flat.

Anyone have any experiences with this they can share?

[zwieback]

I had one spot on my chest last year. It almost seemed like it appeared overnight. It looked like a flesh colored mole. I went to the dermatologist and he gave me a couple of tubes (trial size) of topical steroid cream. I think it was called Topicort. I had to rub a little bit of the cream on the spot once or twice a day. It went away completely within a week, I think. The dermatologist wasn't overly concerned about it.

[BucknellAlum]

I have not had it, but I think it is pretty common. Perhaps using a cream is not as common to treat it, so the pharmacist wasn't familiar with the med?

Just make sure you follow up, as some docs think this can be a precancerous condition:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/actinic-keratosis/DS00568

[bemm123]

Interesting that they just gave you a steroid cream. Did they say it was actinic keratosis? I was given a prescription for Carac, which I guess is a topical chemotherapy drug? He said it has to kill the abnormal cells or they can become cancerous.

[wallycat]

Actinic keratosis is a pre-cancerous condition that many people get as sun damage. It sounds scarier than it is.
It rarely develops into a full blown cancer but if it does, it is typically squamous cell; second most aggressive of the "skin" type cancers.
Some doctors will just burn or surgically remove these; others wait and see. Retin-A is supposed to help reverse the damage.