Jan97 Clinical Update Naval Dental School National Naval Dental Center Bethesda, Maryland Vol. The nature and demands of military duty often expose service members to extended periods of ultraviolet light exposure. As dentists, we have a responsibility to educate our patients about the dangers of repeated and prolonged exposure since most of these maladies occur in the head and neck area. This Clinical Update will review the clinical appearance and significance of the most common actinically related lesions. Occasionally, they can coalesce to form larger lesions.
Freckles are also smaller and are scattered over sun-exposed skin.
They appear as brown, slightly raised nodular lesions usually less than 2 cm. Usually, no treatment is necessary other than for cosmetic reasons. Middle-aged men with a history of chronic sun exposure are prone to the formation of keratoacanthomas about the lips. Despite this characteristic difference, biopsy and histologic examination are still recommended. The texture is roughened, somewhat like sandpaper, with multiple layers of the scale peeling off to varying degrees.