AKs first appear as small tan, brown, or reddish-brown patches.
They can be as small as a few millimeters, be flat or raised, and have
a white scaly top that's rough to the touch. People can have 3 to 10
times as many non-visible lesions (AKs that are under the skin's surface
and are not yet visible) as they do visible ones.10
Over time, AKs multiply and form larger patches on parts of the skin
that are exposed to the sun (eg, face, ears, bald scalp, hands, arms,
and legs). Left untreated, these lesions can develop into squamous cell
carcinoma (SCC), a dangerous form of skin cancer that can spread to other parts of your body.2
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Nonmelanoma skin cancers are becoming more common in the United States
- 80% of the cases diagnosed each year are basal cell carcinomas.9 One
in 5 Americans develops some kind of skin cancer - and now young people
are being diagnosed with skin cancers.3
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Basal cell carcinoma is a sun-induced skin cancer most often found above
the neckline, on the bridge of the nose or around the eye. The lesions
appear as scaly, red, flat areas with a threadlike border. Superficial
basal cell carcinoma usually occurs as multiple lesions in clusters on the skin.
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