Pre-Cancerous Lesions

Have you been diagnosed with a pre-cancerous skin lesion? Skin cancer can start as a change to your skin, such as a spot on your arm, hand, face or leg.

Pre-cancerous skin lesions are changes to the skin that can turn into cancer over time.

What are pre-cancerous lesions?

Pre-cancerous lesions are skin changes that have the risk of becoming cancer over time. But not all pre-cancerous skin lesions become skin cancer. Your dermatologist or primary care provider may choose to treat a pre-cancerous skin lesion, so it will not have the chance to turn into cancer.

Pre-cancerous lesions often occur in areas highly exposed to the UV rays of the sun:

• Face (including nose and lips)

• Scalp

• Chest

• Back of hands

• Legs

• Forearms

Pre-cancerous skin lesion types

Changes to the skin need to be checked by your primary care provider or dermatologist. There are several different types of pre-cancerous skin lesions:

• Actinic keratosis: Wart-like growths that may be red or the color of your skin.

• Moles: New moles or changes to moles (color, size, shape) need to be checked out by your provider.

• Actinic Cheilitis: Scaly patch that appears on the lips.

• Cutaneous Horns: Elderly people and people with fair skin may be at risk of these small growths that resemble horns.

Pre-cancerous lesion risks

Anyone can get pre-cancerous skin lesions. But some people are at higher risk. The following are risk factors for pre-cancerous skin lesions:

• Fair skin, light eyes, or light hair

• High sun exposure

• Severe childhood sunburns

• Older people

• Men

• People living closer to the equator

• People who work outside

• People who’ve had organ transplants

• People taking immunosuppressants

Pre-cancerous lesion prevention

There are many things someone can do to prevent getting precancerous skin lesions:

• Wear clothes that cover your arms and legs.

• Wear a hat.

• Limit sun time.

• Use sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher that protects from both UVA and UVB light.

• Apply sunscreen before exposure and reapply frequently.

• Avoid sun in the middle of the day.