Apple Cider Vinegar on Actinic Keratosis

In previous posts, I’ve stated that I view life as a grand experiment. Part of my purpose in my time on this planet is to be a guinea pig using less conventional, and more “natural” (for lack of a better word) approaches to see for myself what works and share that information with you.

As always, I am not a doctor, scientist, or expert in any field. I am not making any recommendations and you’re probably better off ignoring everything I write. This post is for informational and entertainment purposes only.

My recent ongoing experiment involves the treatment of actinic keratosis. Actinic keratosis (AK) is a rough, scaly patch on the skin, and predominantly appears in areas that receive the most sun exposure such as the face, ears, back of neck, and back of hands. Actinic keratosis can develop into skin cancer sometimes, but not always.

Sometimes AK looks reddish or pink, but sometimes it blends in so you can feel it more than you can see it. It does not flake off like dry skin, and can sometimes be a little painful if it catches on clothing.

AK can be treated conventionally by dermatologists with specific creams, liquid nitrogen, curettage, laser therapy, and photodynamic therapy. However, I am not a conventional guy when it comes to health.

Thanks to my dominant Germanic genes combined with a lot of bad sunburns and a very poor diet in my younger years, I’ve been dealing with actinic keratosis now that I’m in my 50s.

As a side note, since I have been on an animal based diet, my skin is not nearly as sensitive to the sun as it was previously possibly due to the anti-inflammatory properties of saturated fat and cholesterol.

I happen to have AK on my face, neck, and hands with my face taking the worst of the brunt.

I’ve had some cancerous and pre-cancerous lesions over the years that I have treated with black salve, but wanted to try another avenue given the size of area that needed to be addressed.

Enter apple cider vinegar (ACV) as my treatment of choice for this experiment. ACV has long been viewed in traditional circles as a bit of a cure all. I can personally attest to it’s benefits in regard to digestive issues like bloating, heartburn, and even constipation.

I don’t typically have major, obvious digestive issues anymore, but I can usually tell when something isn’t quite right. My symptoms of digestive stress are more often heart palpitations and increasing anxiety likely due to activity of the vagus nerve which runs from our gut through our heart to our brains. I also notice the skin on my abdomen starts to develop a rash if the issues persist.

ACV calms my digestive tract if I eat something that sets me off. I’ll drink a tablespoon or two of organic ACV with “The Mother” in roughly 8 ounces of water.

But for AK, I’m using undiluted organic ACV with “The Mother” on my skin. I apply it twice a day with a cotton ball, once in the morning and once in the evening. It acts as an astringent drying out these lesions.

As the spots dry out, the skin will peel off similar to a sunburn, but maybe a bit more stubborn. You can tear the skin so if it’s not quite ready, best to leave it alone until it peels easier. In the pictures below, you might see some scabs where I was impatient.

I started these treatments at the beginning of July, and I’m still doing them. The pictures are from the selfie lens on my phone, and have not been altered with any filters. The first set of shots are stills from video, so they are not quite as clear. Don’t ask, I don’t know why I didn’t just take pictures.

The reason my eyes are bloodshot, and my hair looks like I slept upside down in many of these pics is because I took most of them soon after waking up.

At the start of the treatments, my skin didn’t look terrible at first glance. It was interesting to see how spots would really flare up over the first few weeks, and then begin to fade only to flare up again as the ACV does it’s trick. The scarring is from black salve which I would only reserve for stubborn spots now that I know ACV works well for most of these.

Sorry, you’re about to get way closer to my face than you ever imagined or wanted. Here are pics before I started treatment.

1 week after starting treatment.

4 weeks after starting treatment.

11 weeks into treatment.

These pictures were taken about a week ago after 4 months of treating my skin twice a day.

I’m still actively treating my face but most of the actinic keratosis appears to be gone with the exception of a few stubborn spots that seem to be slowly resolving. The most prominent spot was actually on the back of my hand, and is completely gone. Unfortunately, I failed to document the progress on my hand.

ACV will sting at times, especially on sensitive skin like the face, so if you decide to try it, be prepared for that, and consider the size of the area you want to treat. The sting goes away after a few minutes, but can still wake you up.

At this stage, I rarely feel the sting on my face, but not because I’m used to it. It’s largely done it's job.

This is obviously not a profitable treatment (I’ve invested about $20 or so in vinegar and cotton balls) so don’t expect a doctor to recommend it. In fact, you will probably hear that it’s quackery and doesn’t work. Perhaps it may not work for some, but it appears to be working quite well for me.

I’ll keep you posted if the AK comes back, but for now it looks like it’s doing the trick.