Delayed wound healing after three different treatments for widespread actinic keratosis on the atrophic bald scalp

Actinic keratosis is an exceedingly common premalignant lesion that can develop into squamous cell carcinoma. There is an increasing prevalence of actinic keratosis with increasing age. Numerous treatment options are available for the treatment of actinic keratosis on the scalp. Although we know that atrophic skin heals slowly, one should be careful but should not hesitate to treat.

We present three patients with widespread actinic keratotic lesions on the atrophic bald scalp who received different treatments.

Patient 1 was treated with medium-depth chemical peel, patient 2 with cryopeel, and patient 3 with CO2 laser resurfacing. In all patients, the entire surface area was treated.

Despite the different treatment methods used, all three patients had severely delayed wound healing as a complication. Remarkably, all patients had a prolonged period of re-epithelialization.

Care has to be taken in patients with widespread actinic keratosis on the atrophic bald scalp when treating the entire surface area regardless the treatment modality.