Beware a skin condition that may turn into cancer but the fix can make your skin look like raw hamburger meat

It’s not exactly a beauty treatment — but it could save your skin.Nationwide, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their lifetime, and a staggering 9,500 people are diagnosed every single day in the US.For many, the disease begins with a common precancerous condition.Luckily, doctors say there’s a highly effective treatment that can stop it in its tracks, though the process won’t be pretty.“My attending at the [Medical University of South Carolina] used to tell patients that their skin is going to look like raw hamburger meat,” Dr.

Cynthia Wilson, a board-certified dermatologist, told The Post.“That turns people off initially, but it gets the job done.”The condition, known as actinic keratosis, develops after years of exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun or tanning beds.Over time, that exposure damages the DNA inside skin cells, causing them to grow abnormally.

The result is rough, scaly patches that most often appear on areas that get the most sun — including the scalp, face, arms and backs of the hands.While the spots themselves aren’t cancer, they can turn into it.Research suggests that about 10% of untreated cases eventually progress to squamous cell carcinoma, the nation’s second most common type of skin cancer.Although squamous cell carcinoma is usually treatable and not typically life-threatening, it can continue to grow and, in some cases, spread to other parts of the body and cause complications if left unchecked.

“Actinic keratoses are extremely common,” Wilson said.“I don’t want my patients to lose sleep over these.

They are in the precancerous stage, so that’s the good news.”Even better, doctors have several ways to eliminate them — including prescription creams that are applied directly to the affected areas over the course of several weeks.“The most common cream that we prescribe for this is called 5-fluorouracil, which is a topical chemotherapy cream,” Wilson said.“It works by target...