"Hats On for AK" Campaign Continues to Raise Actinic Keratosis Awareness

AK Awareness Day is recognized globally on May 24 and serves as an opportunity to raise awareness surrounding actinic keratosis (AK), non-melanoma skin cancers, sun protection, and patient education. For the second year in a row, Almirall launched its “Hats On For AK” initiative alongside AK Awareness Day, and this year collaborated with Biofrontera and SUN Pharma. Co-founded in 2025, the social media campaign was developed as a collaborative effort involving patients, health care professionals, advocacy organizations, and the broader public to encourage conversations about AK and preventive skin care behaviors.¹

This year, the initiative again supports the work of The Skin Cancer Foundation, which partners with the campaign to promote education surrounding sun-induced skin disease and skin cancer prevention.

Deborah S. Sarnoff, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and Mohs surgeon, the director of dermatology at Cosmetique Dermatology, Laser & Plastic Surgery, LLP, clinical professor of dermatology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and president of the Skin Cancer Foundation, described the goals of the “Hats on for AK” campaign surrounding behavior change and coalition building in the fight against skin cancer.

In her first interview, Sarnoff discussed recognizing actinic keratosis, clinical indicators for biopsy, and strategies for counseling patients on cumulative sun damage in response.

The "Hats On for AK" Campaign

The campaign asks the public to photograph themselves wearing hats and share the images online. Sarnoff said the effort is timed to coincide with the lead-up to summer and is designed to remind people to keep their heads covered in the sun. She emphasized the message as particularly important for men who resist wearing hats. "Very often the wife will chime in — ‘he doesn't want to wear the hat, he says it makes it too hot, he's not comfortable wearing the hat, or he says he can't play sports well with it, ’" Sarnoff said. She stressed to patients the connection between sun damage, actinic keratoses, and prior skin cancers as motivation to change habits.

Uniting the Dermatology Community Around AK

Sarnoff highlighted the broad coalition behind the campaign, which includes clinicians using in-office and at-home topical agents as well as companies manufacturing sunscreens and protective accessories. "We're all in the same fight, the fight against skin cancer," Sarnoff said. She argued a unified message across the industry would be more effective at correcting misconceptions and raising public awareness. With an estimated 58 million Americans affected by actinic keratosis,² she said coming together as one voice would make a greater impression on the public.

Sarnoff framed both early detection and prevention as equally central goals of the campaign, and said broad awareness efforts represent the best available tool for changing behavior at scale.

References

1. Almirall continues partnership for second edition of the Hats On For AK initiative. News release. Almirall. May 17, 2026. Accessed June 1, 2026. https://www.almirall.com/news-media/newsroom/almirall-continues-partnership-second-edition-hats-ak-initiative
2. Gomez-Lara AR, George CD, Jiang C, et al. Evaluation of actinic keratosis as a risk factor for subsequent nonskin cancer risk. JID Innov. 2025;5(4):100374. doi:10.1016/j.xjidi.2025.100374

Stay tuned for part 3