The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Biff (Peterborough, Ontario) on 05/03/2013
★★★★★
After asking my doctor to look at a rough patch on my face for 6 years, and dealing with his constant... don't touch it and you'll be fine, I treated my solar keratosis with Apple Cider Vinegar. I soaked a piece of cotton ball in it and placed it over my keratosis with a bandaid at night while I slept. The site I read up on said to do this for 3-4 weeks. After a couple of days it gets red and looks like a bee sting on your face. Then it begins to dry and crack, mine even bled a bit. I was going to give up but kept persevering. After the 3 week the dry scab fell off and my skin was completely smooth. I couldn't believe it. the following summer I was in the sun and the spot began to reappear so I did it again only not as long. I think were people doubt this remedy if it is a solar keratosis is that they don't do it long enough. Or they see it turning red or dry and stop. I think the key is to keep going for several weeks. I swear by it.
Biff
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by JOHN (Pahoa, Hawaii) on 11/09/2023 6 posts
★★★★★
35% Hydrogen peroxide succeeded in healing my chronic keratosis. Thank you for the shared experience.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Wanda (Spring, Texas) on 10/04/2021 33 posts
You might try the ACV with some DMSO. The DMSO will deliver the ACV deeper and quicker. It actually does that to anything so be careful when using it because if you put anything on it, it will absorb that SS well into your skin, so be careful and definitely read about it first.
Colloidal Silver
Posted by Judy (United States) on 03/20/2018
★★★★★
My doctor tried to get me to do the freeze method and I am into all natural everything. I have been used colloidal silver years ago, and it killed a scary spot on my face.
About a year or more ago, a friend suggested using it to kill viruses, etc, and my family and I stayed healthy through this year's flu attacks. I started using colloidal silver ointment on my keratosis about a week ago. this has a higher ppm than the liquid spray that I use for every other thing. (I had been using the spray on it, but I wasn't consistent. )
Things are changing rapidly, and it is burning off. the first week, it just turned pink, and now things are more active. Hoping that soon that thing will be gone. The silver has killed lots of cancerous looking cells on my shoulders and on my husband's back. Colloidal silver is amazing!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Steve (Dublin, Ireland) on 08/20/2013
★★★★★
Hi all, I would just like to say I have used ACV on several solar keratosis over the last few months and Yes it definitely works a treat. It takes a good while sometime 4-8 weeks to clear them up but it is definitely worth it. I started applying the vinegar on two on my temple and after a week more appeared and all went crusty, I kept applying the ACV day and night week after week and eventually they all fell off. So the key I found was not to give up and keep at it until they clear. O yeah I also drink it and will continue to do so, have had a cold or been sick in the last year. Thanks Earthclinic brilliant website.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Margaret (Gunnison, Colorado) on 05/21/2014
★★★★★
My Dr. recommended the 5-fu for the solar keratosis on my face. I have 7 or so spots. I hesitated using the cream because of the pics and awful testimonials I read. Untreated and scared, I googled natural remedies for AK. I decided to try the apple cider vinegar so this is how I do it. 1. wash face air dry 2. apply Apple Cider Vinegar on a cotton pad rubbing over entire face and rub a little extra on spots 3. when skin stops burning, apply moisturizer. I use plain coconut oil at night, boy does it feel good and calms my skin. Day? I use a mild natural cream that is less greasy. After 3 weeks, my spots have sluffed off several times and are still not healed but I have seen 50% improvement. I will continue this process until the skin is all healed from this stuff. Maybe another 3 weeks! God forbid anyone use that 5-fu cream when there is a natural remedy that will leave our skin stronger and healthier! I'm a believer!!!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Chariese (Colorado Springs, CO) on 10/27/2008
★★★★★
I am 24 years old african american, women. In the past few years I had developed a thick crusty scaly dark-spot on my lower lip. I dont have insurance so I searched online to see what it might be after looking and looking and looking I found Actinic Keratosis and found out that that is what it was. I had tried every lip balm sun screen, vitamin E, flax seed, pealing it (which made it bleed) to get rid of it. Nothing worked and if it made a difference it was very short lived. Then I started looking into natural cures for it, I cam across this site which said to try apple cider vinegar. So I went to the health food store and bought the best Organic apple cider vinegar I could find. I chose _____ apple cider vinegar with the mother in it. (dont ask me what that means but that what it said on the bottle. Well I am VERY VERY Happy to report that IT WORKS. I took 1tsb at nite and 1tsb in the morning and now after 2 weeks it is completely gone!
Thank you so much YEA for your report, people were beginning to think I had herpes.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Cathal (Canberra, Australia) on 10/01/2007
★★★★★
On Friday 14 September 2007 I went to the doctor. I'm 63. While there I asked him to take a look at my Knuckles on my left hand, which have had a rough dry scaly bumpy patch with a yellow white crust, which I have had for several years making my hand look pretty ugly. Nothing that I have tried could ever shift it. He said that it was Solar Keratosis (also known as an actinic keratosis) and gave me a computer print out article. He said that there was a slight chance that it could eventually turn into a skin Cancer called squamous cell carceinoma. I asked how to get rid of it and he listed: freezing it with liquid nitrogen, cutting it out or scraping it off under a local anesthetic, or using a creme or gel that could take up to three months to work and which may cause inflammation and blistering, or I could have Laser surgery or he could cauterize it with a searing hot iron or an electric current or use caustic burning substance. Uh-oh! When I got home I hit the internet quick smart and looked it up the malady on this and other sites. I then looked through my cupboards and found some Apple Cider Vinegar that my deceased wife had bought over 12 years ago. I tried some right away topically and went to the Health Food store and got some "fresh" ACV (imported from the USA) with the "Mother" in it. Today is the first of October (about two weeks later) and with 2 or 3 glasses a day of a 'splash' of ACV, bit of local honey and spring water from the supermarket plus a cotton bud tip as a device to put some of the old ACV on the knuckles, they are now completely clear! The skin is smooth, there's no roughness and some other assorted skin irritations have cleared up as well. My usual 'aches and pains' are far less prevalent. I am also less "Down" and feel generally quite a bit more positive. Sleep is deeper and less disturbed with getting up in the night reduced to once or twice a night with some nights being slept all the way through. I also seem to have more energy and less appetitie (which is good as I am getting more girth with age)! I also have far less indigestion. The only "side effect" was a few whitehead pimples at the beginning few days, which I took to be my skin generally throwing off some bodily toxins. If I am having a so-called "placebo effect" or if some learned academic says that this is really only "mind over matter" or the "power of suggestive thinking", or if someone says that my doctor "mis-diagnosed" me, well, I don't care! The damn unsightly thing has disappeared, leaving me feeling much better all 'round! It is the cheapest and most effective alternative I have ever tried and I am pleased that I don't have to undergo any painful or expensive chemical or surgical procedure (even though medical care is free for everyone in Australia). The ACV works for me! And for only a few cents a day of natural healthful ingredients. I can now gladly put my hand up as a happy ACV customer!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Linda (Las Vegas, NV) on 08/09/2006
★★★★★
I read on your site where it cured solar keratosis under a woman's eye. I have had solar keratosis all over my legs and arms for years. I am fair skinned and grew up in the desert. Dermatologists told me there was nothing I could do to make them go away. Recently I decided to try ACV and to my astonishment they are just about gone. It is the most remarkable thing I have ever seen. I used to be embarrassed to wear shorts they were so bad. Now they are so close to being gone that I am now wearing shorts. I applied it directly to them twice a day. The smell does go away! It really does work. I am so thankful I read this woman's article. Thank you.
Multiple Remedies
Posted by KK (Pocono Manor, PA) on 03/15/2021
Thanks so much for this. I'm also 55 and spent a lot of time in the sun growing up. I'm faired skinned, though always tanned easily... I had an AK above my lip in my 30's that didn't go away with Aldara (topical chemo) so they scared me into having Moh's surgery right away. It was one of the most awful experiences I've ever had (right after the time I scratched my cornea). After 5 times back in the chair (with an hour wait between), and many many shots of novocaine I ended up with a hole the size of a dime on my face. As a young woman who was just starting to feel pretty good about my looks, I bawled when I saw what they did to me. The resident plastic surgeon who was supposed to be 'one of the best' did some fancy footwork to close it up, but left me with a huge L-shaped scar and my lip disfigured (it still is). All this was in NYC.
They said in a few years I'd never even know anything happened. Ten years later, I still had a red scar, lip disfigurement AND the cancer came back right on the scar site. I was seeing a different Derm by then in Brooklyn and he told me that that was very common (! ), and recommended I have Moh's again right away!! Why would I let them cut up my face again when it didn't work the first time??!! He was pretty young and open minded when I asked about alternatives, but said he needed to schedule the Moh's right away to cover his own ass, and that I could cancel.
I let him schedule it and then called a few days later and cancelled. I researched and found Blood Root and ordered some, but while waiting I came across EC and ACV, so started with plain ACV on the spot. It turned red and several tiny pinholes opened up in the area, and a few showed up nearby that did not turn red and had not been touched by the ACV. I think the whole process took a couple weeks and when I returned to the Derm he verified that there was no sign whatsoever of the cancer. He didn't seem all that shocked or impressed though. You'd think he'd be publishing articles and shouting it from the treetops...
Since then I also tried Blood Root on a spot on my cheek, which cause a much more dramatic reaction, but also worked and healed well. Unfortunately, I started noticing redness and an occasional break-out kind of thing on the scar site again so I just finished another treatment there along with a few other questionable spots. I didn't have much luck with the brown spots but interestingly, I treated a fairly large brown spot that's right below my eyebrow and it didn't react other than a little flaking, but a red area developed adjacent to it immediately with stinging and deep pain, then pinholes and scabbing and finally healing. I would never have known it was there otherwise.
I'm thinking of using AVC like a toner every so often just to see if anything shows up. I'm going to try your remedies for brown spots and get back on the Retin A too. I've always been a little afraid of it b/c it causes sun-sensitivity so you have to be really careful with it. Then there's the issue of chemical sunscreens that prevent the upper layers of skin from burning by drawing the sun's rays deeper into your skin.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Gary (Calgary, Alberta) on 08/30/2016
★★★★★
Excellent results from apple cider vinegar. I had many sores on my bald head from sun damage accumulated over the years from overexposurer ( Actinic Keratosis). I applied the ACV with a q-tip soaked in the ACV three or four times a day for approximately four days. Scabs began to form within a few days and I was able to gently remove the scabs. So far so good. Actually, amazing .
Borax
Posted by Janet (Pa) on 05/26/2018
★★★★★
I am also convinced that at least some pre cancers and cancers ate actually fungus and or a bacteria that acts fungal such as Streptomyces and labs are getting it wrong because diagnosis requires special cultures and because of repeated incorrect training. I have been diagnosed with actinic keritosis and antimicrobials work. Is it a coincidence that antimicrobials work for certain cancer and pre cancer lesions, I don't think so. They are either fungal/bacterial infections or simply misdiagnosis.
Apple Cider Vinegar, Eggplant
Posted by Sandy (FL) on 10/30/2020
Just cut up eggplant and soak it overnight in ACV. Pour liquid off into another bottle. I soak a qtip and apply to any affected area.
Works amazingly well.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Blindedbyscience (Wnc) on 06/26/2014
★★★★★
ACV for solar keratosis, basal cell.
If you are not getting results with this, I suggest applying the ACV and leaving it open to air as much as possible. Also try not using oils (even coconut! ) for a while. For me my problem just continued when I used oils. Hydrogen peroxide seems fine. I'm getting much better result this way. You can use a soaked ACV cotton ball to cover the area or expose the problem but then it needs to dry out I believe. I have been messing with a spot for over 3 yrs. I feel I had a setback when I applied orange oil 3 months ago but I've almost knocked out the new area using the above. Yes I've tried almost all the home remedies including Efudex, twice daily x 3wk (probably should have done it longer). BTW I only recently quit applying oil completely because it dawned on me that the times I had the most improvement was when I didn't use oil. I just started experimenting with hemp oil on my good skin to see if it helps with age spots.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Fiona (Portland, OR) on 03/22/2006
★★★★★
Several weeks ago I re-read after many years, Dr. Jarvis's book "Folk Medicine" in which he extolls the virtues of ACV. Being a Vermonter myself, I decided to try using it internally and externally. I had never used it regularly before. A very stubborn solar keratosis under my left eye is markedly better and on it's way to disappearing completely (finally!). I had put vitamin e and other things on it to no avail. ACV is really doing the trick. In general, my facial skin is noticeably enhanced in smoothness and color. I have dark hair and fair skin, and have always looked like Morticia Adams.. .the ACV has given me more natural "blush" like the apples it's made from. I have been taking about 2 tablespoons a day, and bathing in it several times a week. Great stuff! I have super long hair and it has made it very soft and enhances the natural wave when I use it as a final rinse.
Multiple Remedies
Posted by Jon (WV) on 01/09/2023
I am 59 years old. I have had Basel Cell Carcinoma for over 20 years. I found the best Mohs Surgeon in Clairton, PA at Jefferson Hospital. A different doctor cut my lip (once) for B-cell. When I asked if he got it all, he said, " I think." You do not guess with Mohs. My B-cell cancer came back with a vengeance on my lip. I went to Dr. D. B. and he got it all and repaired the area so well, that you cannot tell I had surgery.
I am now getting a lot of waxy mole like things on my face and torso. My family physician called them wisdom spots, I call them actinic keratosis. I am going to try Lugol's iodine and moisturizer. Hope it works!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Kat (NC, US) on 08/27/2014
★★★★★
Diagnosed with pre-cancerous Actinic Ketosis on my back. Read here, (thank you Earth Clinic for this site and all of you! ) that ACV could help this. Since I'm up for experimenting on myself, I tried it.
I used the ACV straight on the Ketosis after I took a picture of it. It is now healed completely. Also used the ACV straight, no dilution, on my face, and any bumps that I have on my body and under breasts. A small skin nodule under my lip fell off in one day. At first, my skin seemed to get very red, but I think that was the stuff coming out that needed healing. All other bumps (moles, etc.) are getting better but not healed yet.
My husband had a rash on the back of his knee and has been using ACV for the past month and it is much better but not healed yet. ACV rocks!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Jeff (Portsmouth, Uk) on 08/06/2014
I just wanted to reinforce the previous comment - do not use any oil based product on the area of skin you are treating with ACV. It prevents the healing process. I was treating Solar Keratosis for 6 weeks with only a little success. When I stopped using anything else the process took only two weeks!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Dan (Uk) on 05/16/2014
★★★★★
Apple Cider Vinegar for Actinic Keratosis:
About 9 years ago I hit my quite bald head on a lump of rough wood while on holiday. It bled but healed as any other cut would. Then 9yrs or so later (I'm 36 now) after a shower I notice some blood on the towel after drying my slightly balder head. I checked it out and the scar tissue was bleeding, ever so slightly. I didn't think much of it at the time but after a week or so it wasn't getting much better so I had it checked by a derm and he said it was Actinic Keratosis (AK) and prescribed Aldara cream. I didn't go for the cream due to side effects and the fact that I don't place a lot of faith in modern medicine. Instead I did some research which included this website and another one on skin cancer and came up with the ACV alternative treatment which I started immediately because we already had some, with a rather large mother as it was a couple of years old. I started to douse the area with a cotton bud 2-3 times per day and also supplemented with ACV morning and evening (two desert spoons in a glass of water). When the derm had looked at it he pushed and pulled it about and left me with big scab which I was a bit uncomfortable with. I read that you have to be persistent but I was beginning to lose faith a bit after 3-4 weeks and then last night while dousing, the large scab just floated off to reveal what appears to be unblemished new skin! I still have a couple of much smaller scabs an hope these will go the same way so will carry on treating it. I will probably continue to supplement (in water) even when they are gone because I read that these conditions sometimes occur when your body is too acidic and ACV helps to alkalize it. It might be worth mentioning that I have suffered with Candida, a long standing toe nail fungus, for all of my adult life and I believe this contributed to it as well.
Hopefully this will encourage others to try the alternatives but remember that it won't happen overnight and keep going!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Cobbit (Farnham, Uk) on 10/10/2013
★★★★★
I was prescribed Efudex for my first solar keratosis in 2008, using it for 6 weeks, and whilst it did work, it left me with a pale mark on my cheek. I recently developed another keratosis, this time on my nose, and my search for a kinder alternative remedy brought me to this website. I used apple cider vinegar and am relieved and happy to be able to say that it has worked. After about four days of applying Raw ACV, a scab developed, and just over two weeks later it has fallen off leaving no sign of the keratosis. Do try it, for me the whole treatment was so quick and now I have plenty of vinegar left over to use for salad dressing!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Tashimoto (Vancouver) on 09/15/2014
Did you also drink ACV to work on the issue from the inside out? If you put duct tape next to vinegar, the vinegar might be leeching chemicals from the duct tape, thus creating a less than ideal mixture for your skin.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Plata Paloma (Western, Colorado) on 10/11/2010
★★★★★
Wow! After trying everything I could think of (sans surgery), including the useless diagnosis of FIVE different dermatologists... I finally am getting some RESULTS! The ACV (with the mother) is actually working! I have been applying ACV with a q-tip 5-10 x per day for 2 weeks to my quarter sized keratosis and it is gradually peeling off revealing my original skin underneath. The bright red color is fading and the dark defined edges are now blended into my own skin color. Absolutely a Godsend, after 10 years of embarrassment. Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Kimberly (New York, NY USA) on 12/14/2008
★★★★★
I would like to enthusiastically offer my support for apple cider vinegar in the cure of various skin ailments. WARTS: I dipped a very small piece of cotton in ACV, put this directly on the wart, then covered all with an air-tight bandage. I left on for c. 12 hours, then let the entire area breathe for 12 hours. I repeated for about 3 weeks, as this was a deep and large wart. The first 2 applications stung and throbbed a bit, but from then on, the entire enterprise was painless. The area eventually ulcerated--looks messy for a while--and painlessly peeled off. No more wart! As maintenance for about 3 more weeks, I dabbed a little ACV on the area, without bandage. The wart has not recurred after more than a year and a half! This really works, folks!
ACTINIC KERATOSIS: My dermatologist identified this on my skin just above my upper lip. She offered to burn it off with liquid nitrogen: no, thanks. I followed the same ACV routine, and it worked! Took a lot less time, as this keratosis was not deep.
BENIGN PAPILLOMA: I am currently eliminating a little bump from my nose that I've had for over 10 years: it is in the red and ulcerating phase and about to sluff off.
I am THRILLED with the way ACV works to remove skin ailments! This method is cheap, safe, and natural. The skin afterwards is perfectly healthy and not scarred: quite preferable to liquid nitrogen or fluorouracil-5 or other harsh chemicals. Try it!
Iodine
Posted by peter (chicago) on 03/10/2021
What strength Lugol's did you use? Thanks.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Posted by Doug (Seattle) on 10/30/2020
★★☆☆☆WORKED TEMPORARILY
Doctor diagnosed Actinic Keratosis on face. Have tried ACV by applying tissue wetted in ACV on affected areas of face multiple times a day (including overnight), pausing if it gets too sore.
After say 10 days of treatment, the AKs will scab up and fall off. However, they all come back again. Have repeated the ACV treatment after a couple years with same result: the AKs come back again. I feel that, at least in my case, the ACV does not penetrate deep enough, or possibly it is just not effective enough to completely remove what causes the AKs.
I will try eggplant mixed with ACV next time, and perhaps olive oil with tea tree.
