Why are the sun's rays dangerous? actinic keratosis

Actinic keratosis is a pathological skin process that develops on sun-damaged skin.

Also referred to as "senile acanthoma", "solar keratosis".

The disease is more common among the elderly, on average, actinic keratosis is found in every 4th elderly person.

The main manifestation of the disease – the presence of keratinized skin in open areas of the skin that are accessible to direct sunlight. More often there are several such sites.

Read more on estet-portal.com why actinic keratosis develops, what are its types and clinical manifestations.

• Who can get actinic keratosis and why
• Causes and predisposing factors of actinic keratosis
• Classification and course of actinic keratosis
• Symptoms and clinical manifestations of actinic keratosisa

Who can get actinic keratosis and why

According to statistics, actinic keratosis is the reason for visiting a dermatologist in 14% of cases and is diagnosed in people over 45 years of age.

Senile acanthoma is out-of-season regardless of the cause.

Actinic keratosis can occur even in individuals who never tan or expose their skin to prolonged sun exposure.

For yearsexposed skin accumulates the negative effects of sunshine, this is asymptomatic.

After several years or decades, against the background of weakening immunity, which is often found in older peopleher, the first symptoms of the disease begin to appear.

Melanin pigment synthesis data can change tanning culture

Causes and predisposing factors of actinic keratosis

There are cases that the appearance of actinic keratosis contributes to:

• taking antibiotics and immunosuppressants;
• drastic hormonal changes in the body;
• wearing clothing that rubs the skin in some areas;
• chemotherapy;
• heredity.

All this provokes increased skin sensitization.

Factors that increase the likelihood of developing actinic keratosis:

• intense and frequent exposure to sunlight that damages the epidermis;
• age – after age 45, the likelihood of developing the disease increases;
• living in hot climates and working in direct sunlight;
• light skin, hair, blue or green eyes.

According to statistics, fair-skinned people are affected by the disease 3 times more often. Blacks do not develop the disease.

It has been established that the presence of papillomatous infection in the body increases the likelihood of developing actinic keratosis by 13 times, in the presence of concomitant factors.

Freckles at a young age are also considered to be an increased risk factor for developing senile acanthoma in later lifesch.

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Classification and course of actinic keratosis

On the basis of pathomorphological changes in the layers of the skin, actinic keratosis is divided into several types.

Variants of the course of actinic keratosis:

1. Lichenoid- active process is located between the upper layer of the dermis and the basal layer of the epidermis, where infiltrates from dermal cells are formed;

2. Hypertrophic – characterized by the appearance of large nuclear cells in the epidermis, which produce light and dark keratin.

It is this sequence of keratin layers that is a sign of actinic keratosis.

3. Pigmented – the accumulation of a large amount of melanin is characteristic, which stains the pathological focus in brown.

4. Proliferative – develops against the background of elastosis and is characterized by the germination of epidermal cells into the skin with the further formation of foci of hyperkeratosis.

5. Acantholytic – develops against the background of elastosis and is characterized by the formation of epithelial-connective tissue foci in the dermis over existing foci.

Such formations grow towards the surface of the skin.

6. Atrophic – develops in the upper layers of the dermis, while thinning and destroying them in places, with further formation of cracks and lacunae.

7. Bowenoid – is the initial stage of skin cancer, with it there is an accumulation of dysplastic atypical cells in the epidermis and in the upper layers of the dermis.

At the same time, atypical cells are in "dynamic equilibrium" - how many new cells appear, so many old cells die.

Also isolated atypical forms of actinic keratosis.

This is pagetoid keratosis, which is characterized by the appearance of pagetoid cells in the upper layer of the skin, as well as bullous kkeratosis, in which the dermis is infiltrated by neutrophils, which leads to the formation of a mini-abscesss in the papillary dermis.

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Symptoms and clinical manifestations of actinic keratosis

Actinic keratosis is manifested by the formation of

white plaque with scales, they can be of different thickness - from flat to raised above the surface.

The color of the elements varies and varies

from skin tone to red-brown.

The width of the spots is from 3 to 10 mm, with a gradual increase possible.

Other signs of damage are visualized around the lesions on the skin – dark spots, yellow tint, or

damage to blood vessels.

The patient's skin is dry, with telangiectasias.

Actinic keratosis is mostly painless, but in some cases it can itch and burn, and plaques can bleed.

If the process is long-standing, then the plaques become thicker, may protrude above the surface of the skin, which is called the

skin horn.

The skin at the affected area becomes harder and darker in color.

Actinic keratosis is more common on the face, but it can also occur on other parts of the body.

Read in our next article about methods of diagnosing and treating actinic keratosis.

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