LESION, DARK AND ROUGH-TEXTURED
Description and Possible Medical Problems
It’s a medical fact that fait-skinned people are more prone to skin cancer than those with darker skins are. An early sign of skin cancer in a light-skinned person is the appearance of a darkened lesion that feels like sandpaper. Since only sun-exposed areas of the skin have these lesions, called actinic keratoses, or solar keratoses, the face is especially vulnerable.
Though an actinic keratosis is a benign skin growth, it can turn into a malignant squamous cell carcinoma.
Treatment
Another treatment is with a topical cream called 5-fluorouracil, or 5-FU, a medication that chemically removes the lesion over the course of two to four weeks. If your doctor treats you with 5-FU, the lesion will feel as though it’s burning. The pain can be alleviated with the simultaneous use of a corticosteroid cream.
After the initial burning sensation, the lesion will begin to ulcerate before it begins to heal. At this point, the daily application of 5-FU should be discontinued.
Your doctor will also recommend that, to avoid future growths of actinic keratosis, you stay out of the sun as much as possible and use a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or higher whenever you do go outside.
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