Treatments used to promote a younger appearance, including laser facial resurfacing, chemical peels and topical creams, may reduce precancerous lesions and lower the risk of skin cancer, a study found.

Patients had a reduced risk of developing actinic keratoses after undergoing one of the treatments, according to the report, published in the August issue of Archives of Dermatology.

Actinic keratoses are rough patches of skin that appear on sun-exposed areas and often are precursors to cancer. The treatments resulted in an 83 percent to 92 percent decrease in the condition. Study participants also had a lower incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer, said lead author Susan Swetter of the dermatology department at Stanford University Medical Center in California.

"Our research shows that we should aggressively try to prevent skin cancer with these modalities," Swetter said in a telephone interview.

The study looked at 27 men ages 54 to 91, all with a history of non-melanoma skin cancer or damage from sun exposure, and all of whom received one of the three treatments.

Three patients were dropped from the study after treatment started. Every remaining patient was found to have a lower risk of developing actinic keratoses.

Swetter said the results must be confirmed with a larger study population. As part of the study, the patients regularly used a skin cream containing tretinoin, which can decrease the number of actinic keratoses, the authors wrote.

Patients were evaluated every three months for a minimum of 24 months.