Actinic Keratosis Treatments

Once you’ve been diagnosed with an AK, there are several different treatments that your dermatologist may use to remove the skin growth:

• Cryotherapy/cryosurgery: Using liquid nitrogen, your growths are frozen for easier removal. After a few days, they’ll simply peel or fall off the skin.
• Chemical peels: By using chemicals to destroy the top layers of your skin, this treatment can dissolve and remove any skin growths. The remaining, newly-exposed skin will be blemish-free.
• Photodynamic therapy: This non-invasive option uses light energy to react with injected medication to target damaged skin. This light causes a chemical reaction that destroys your skin growths.

Depending on the severity of your actinic keratosis, your provider may recommend one or more treatments to manage your symptoms. In some cases, a combination of treatments may be required.

Topical therapy like fluorouracil, ingenol mebutate, and diclofenac have all shown efficient results at treating outbreaks of actinic keratosis. However, we advise all patients to still go in-clinic to get a proper diagnosis and checkup, and to only use topical medication on the prescription of a medical provider.

How your treatments will go will generally depend on the procedure your provider will use to remove your actinic keratoses. However, one thing you can expect is a thorough consultation and monitoring before and after your treatments to ensure that no adverse complications happen.

Done properly, medical actinic keratosis removal has high success rates and patient satisfaction. You may need to use a topical treatment to help your skin heal faster after your procedure, but your downtime shouldn’t last very long. For more information, consult your provider.

Actinic keratosis may be completely gone from the affected area anywhere from a few weeks to a few months after your treatment. To make sure that your particular treatment option has worked, we advise that you go for regular checkups to get a clearer idea of your condition.

Actinic keratosis removal is classified as a medical treatment and is covered by Medicare and most insurance companies.