MedicineNet.com

I am 73-year-old woman. I have had breast cancer twice since 1994. I had a mastectomy and skin grafts. Now I have been diagnosed with actinic keratosis of the lip. I am waiting to have it treated. I have worked in the sun all my life but did not use sunscreen as I should. I feel good, and other than arthritis, I feel well and stay busy. The Lord has blessed me. When I see women with tattoos on their breasts and body piercings, I think, "Honey, if you had been through what I have been through, that would be enough!"

I am 34 and I have this on my cheeks bones. I was always in the sun when I was little and even as a teenager, but I didn't start getting the spots until last year and I hope and pray they stop growing, people tell me oh your glasses cover most of the spots, but I know there still they are not. I know that beauty is not everything, but I still find myself trying to cover them up, I want to really express like many on here have to use sunscreen. Sure even at 34 I would love to just run out on the beach with out hassling to put on sun screen, but its so worth doing that, I am even going to start wearing a sun visor, just take good care of yourselves.

I am a 67 year old fair skinned female that spent many years at the beach, fishing, crabbing, sailing etc. I had a significant squamous cell carcinoma removed from my forehead 6 years ago. I have at least 100 Keratosis' all over my body even in places that were not exposed to the sun. I now have a spot on my nose that I am wary about and will be going to a dermatologist ASAP. I feel like an old ship that has grown barnacles all over her hull. I tell all young ladies, to cover up or use the tanning in the bottle.

I'm older now (a 58-year-old male) and much, much wiser. I have loved the sun and the outdoors all my life. I have always felt good in the sun. I have always felt good with a tanned face and body. I worked outside off and on for 30 years. I sunbathed at every opportunity, sometimes being caught with very red burns, and being fair-skinned, this was often. Now I have actinic keratosis, and I regret all of the above. Now the least bit of sun causes discomfort to my face. I wish you could put my message somewhere where everyone could read it, especially those like I once was who believe all is well in the sun!

I am a 53 year old female who has had both actinic keratosis and basal cell carcinoma since my early 40's. I am blue eyed and very fair skinned and grew up in S. Cal and took a lot of sun as a child, teen and young adult. I still love the sun and have a pool. I try to be smarter about my exposure. I just got three biopsies done on my face today and several lesions frozen on my hands and face. I now preach the use of sunscreen and hats to everyone. I have small scars where the lesions have been treated both with freezing and surgery. Aldara cream seems to leave the least scaring, but all the scars are very small and only really show if I get some tan (which I try not to do) and then they show up more as a white spot than an actual scar, and the "scars" are not as ugly as the scaly, red patches of actinic keratosis. WEAR SUNSCREEN AND HATS WHENEVER YOU GO OUT IN THE SUN AND TEACH YOUR KIDS THE SAME THING.

I am a 53-year-old fair-skinned, blue-eyed woman with actinic keratosis that was diagnosed about 15 years ago. My arms and legs are covered with them to the point that I won't wear dresses anymore unless it's with dark hose. I try to wear long sleeves all the time too, which is very difficult during the hot summer months. My dermatologist told me she has never seen such a heavy case on anyone as young as I am. I wish I had this information when I was in my teens and 20s.

I am an unusual case of actinic keratosis. I am only 43 years old and female, and I have this condition all over my legs, arms and hands, but none anywhere else! I noticed a few on my hands about 10 years ago but didn't think anything of it. I have always been a lover of the sun and tanning beds, but I am a fair-skinned, blue-eyed person, and I guess this all contributed to this. I have gone to two different dermatologists with only minimal results. The liquid nitrogen worked best for the large ones on my legs, but left shiny pink areas where the blisters were. I hate these nasty things and wished I had been more careful in the sun all those years ago.