Can Age Spots Be Cancerous?
Age spots can affect one’s self confidence. Another issue about age spots is their alleged progression to skin cancer. Before making any conclusions, you should ask what factors age spot and cancer have in common.
Age spots commonly called liver spots appear on older people, since they have more sun damage to their skin. Those parts of the skin which absorbs the most sunlight are more affected. It can be concluded that aging is not the only factor when it comes to developing age spots. Age spots arise from accumulated damaged melanocytes.
Skin cancer can be caused by a lot of factors including sun exposure. Smoking tobacco and getting exposed to harsh chemicals are some of skin cancers causes. It could also be because it runs in your family. The three most common types of skin cancer are classified according to the skin cells they affect. These skin cancers are called squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma and melanoma. Other kinds of skin cancers are also existing, but the most common of them are discussed here.
Now, can a simple age spot develop into cancer? The answer is, possibly, since UV radiation that damages skin cells can be carcinogenic. It could happen if age spots are disregarded.
The risk of dying from skin cancer is little because it can be detected early. Wounds that do not heal, skin lesions which change in color and size and moles with irregular shapes are the indicators of skin cancer. A simple mole can also be a cancer, especially if that mole just appeared and it also changes its color, size and has an irregular shape. Age spots obscure the detection of melanoma so it became associated with it.
So what can you do to prevent skin cancer, and avoiding age spots from obscuring melanoma? First, you have to limit your sun exposure. Stay away from sunlight especially when it is scorching hot. If you have your age spots removed, your risks are lowered. Using sunscreens is also a way to prevent too much UV radiation absorption. Bringing an umbrella is a wise move. After all, prevention is better than cure.
Remove age spots and seborrheic keratosis at home in just 14 days. This powerful treatment eats away sun damaged skin cells and leaves healthy skin cells unharmed.