Actinic keratoses are a chronic condition in ultraviolet-damaged skin, with a risk of progressing to invasive skin cancer.

A new study published in ActaDermato-venereologica investigated the preventive potential of field-directed repetitive daylight photodynamic therapy for actinic keratoses.

This was a randomized trial that recruited 58 patients with ≥5 actinic keratoses on photo damaged facial skin – who received either five full-face sessions of daylight photodynamic therapy within a period of two years or lesion-directed cryosurgery. Primary outcome was the mean cumulative number of new actinic keratoses developed between visits two and six, visit six being a follow-up.

It was noted that the outcome was lower after daylight photo¬dynamic therapy (7.7) compared to cryosurgery (10.2), but the difference was non-significant. Several signs of photo-ageing—fine lines, pigmentation, roughness, erythema and sebaceous gland hyperplasia—were significantly reduced after daylight photodynamic therapy, but not after cryosurgery. Significantly less pain and fewer side-effects were reported during daylight photodynamic therapy than during cryosurgery.

From the results, it was concluded that repetitive daylight photodynamic therapy has photo-rejuvenating effects.

Source: ActaDermato-venereologica. 2020 Dec 14. doi: 10.2340/00015555-3717.