Ms. Bassett presents for a "skin cancer check." She readily volunteers that she has spent a considerable amount of time out in the sun, although there is no family history of skin cancer. I reassured the patient about typical changes of so-called "idiopathic guttate hypomelanosis" over her legs, plus a solitary seborrheic keratosis on her left wrist and a single cherry angioma over her left thigh. Checking the sun-exposed sites, I did detect an early pigmented solar keratosis over her right zygoma. She also has numerous excoriated acne lesions on her face. I elected to freeze this precancer with liquid nitrogen on an applicator after stressing the importance of photoprotection. Ms. Bassett will return as required.
a. What was the predisposing factor causing the patient's present condition?
b. What did the physician recommend to the patient to prevent future problems with solar keratosis?
c. What treatment was performed on the precancerous lesions?
d. When does the physician want to see the patient?
e. What is the definition of the term "cherry angioma"?