Age Spots

Also known as sun spots, liver spots, lentigos or lentigines, these lesions are flat, tan, brown or dark brown spots that appear on your skin as you age. Common amongst those who linger out in the sun a lot, these unattractive spots tend to appear around the back of the hands, the forearms, neck, chest and face. Although these spots are not cancerous themselves, research has shown that you might be at a risk for developing skin cancer if you do have them.

The Causes of Age Spots

Age spots develop when you age and if you have had increased exposure to the sun. The spots are come about when melanocytes (pigment producing cells in the skin) are activated to produce more of the pigment melanin due to the ultraviolet rays. Thus, spots appear in your skin that is darker than your natural skin colour. Sun spots are common amongst those who have freckles or who burn easily when exposed to the sun.

How do you get rid of Age Spots?

There are many types of treatment available nowadays to remove age spots. However, the best way is prevention. Avoiding the sun and using sunscreen daily is a great way of preventing age spots in the future. Nevertheless, there are the numbers of us where it might be too late for prevention. Age spots can be removed with a number of treatment options. This includes, chemical peels, laser resurfacing, intense pulsed light therapy and bleaching creams.

è Chemical Peels

This procedure is quite amazing for age spots and for taking years off your face. The advantage of this treatment is that it is fully customizable, where you would be able to choose the depth of your peel and how you want the end result. Furthermore, it has been proven to improve skin by years of testing. In addition, the procedure has shown amazing results that have lasted for many years unlike other surgeries.

The treatment works by removing the layers of skin that contain age spots, wrinkles and other problems on the skin’s surface. Moreover, the recovery time span and side effects can range from nothing to moderate depending on the severity of the treatment you select.

è Laser Resurfacing

If you are looking for a solution that is safe and effective in the removal of age spots, then laser resurfacing is the best. Results have shown that laser resurfacing has successfully reduced the appearance of age spots and other discolorations for many years.

The procedure usually lasts about 30 to 90 minutes where by using various intensities of laser light, laser resurfacing removes damaged tissue without incisions. This encourages the growth of new, healthy, normal-pigmented skin. Although results can take a few months to show, they do last for many years.

è Intense Pulsed Light Therapy

This treatment is a non-invasive method that has shown significant improvement in the visibility of age-spots, melasma, enlarged blood vessels and freckles. Furthermore, it has significantly reduced pain and recovery time in comparison to laser or chemical-related procedures. The delicate upper layer of the epidermal layer is also protected during this treatment.

IPL (Intense Pulses Light) therapy works by applying broad-spectrum light to the deeper layers of the skin. This encourages new skin growth that is similar to the photosynthesis process in plan. Due to these events, there is far less damaged associated with IPL than some laser treatments. However, some patients do require a series of IPL treatments over a course of a few weeks in order to get the desired effect.

è Bleaching Creams

This method is probably the slowest but can be quite effective. Not to mention, this is probably the cheapest of all treatments. Nevertheless, when it comes to bleaching creams opt for the high-quality creams as the wrong creams might have a bad effect upon your skin. Make sure that you choose the cream that is suited to your skin type.