Solar keratoses

If you can't take nicotinamide due to side effects or potential medical risks, alternatives include topical therapies, fractional laser treatment and some medications.

Avoiding excessive ultraviolet exposure is by far the most effective way to reduce the risk of skin cancer. But there are other risk factors, and other ways of reducing skin cancer risk and improving skin health.

Removing moles does not usually prevent skin cancer. The most common skin cancers (basal and squamous cell carcinomas) and most melanomas grow from areas of normal skin. A small number of melanomas develop in pre-existing moles, but it's usually not possible to predict which moles will develop into melanoma, so removing moles doesn't tend to reduce the risk of future melanoma.

Both sun spots and skin cancer can be caused by prolonged sun exposure, and both may appear as flat brown patches on the face, hands, chest and other areas of sun-exposed skin. Skin cancer can grow and sometimes spread to other parts of the body causing serious illness or death, while sun spots are harmless and primarily a cosmetic concern.

Sun spots (lentigines, age spots, liver spots and solar keratoses) are common patches on the skin resulting usually from long-term sun exposure. Most sun spots are normal and a cosmetic concern only, but some are potentially pre-cancerous.