Actinic keratosis: preventable and treatable like other precancerous and cancerous skin lesions.

Actinic keratosis, like many other precancerous and cancerous skin lesions are preventable and treatable. Nurses, physicians, other health care providers, school teachers, daycare workers, grandparents, parents, and children must assume the role of educating others regarding attitudes and knowledge about sun damage to the skin. Protecting one's skin should be a lifelong process from the newborn period onward. However, if sun damage does occur, the next important step is early detection of skin cancer. Individuals with associated risk factors should be screened routinely by health care personnel with expertise in the area of skin cancer. The best treatment of actinic keratosis, as with most diseases, is prevention.