So you want a tan but you end up speckled. What happened to your smooth, even skin tone? And what can be done about those annoying, sun-induced dark splotches on your face, shoulders and forearms?
The good news is, sun spots aren’t so bad in the grand scheme of skin issues. Still, they can be aesthetically bothersome, especially for all of us who love spending time on Bradenton Beach.
Here’s what you need to know about preventing (and/or treating) sun spots this summer.
What Are Sun Spots on Your Skin?
Sun spots are dark circles that appear on your skin after sun exposure. They are painless, smooth and flat, and tend to be at least a little larger than freckles.
People also sometimes refer to them as “age spots” or “liver spots.”
What Causes Sun Spots?
Sun spots are caused by repeated UV light exposure—usually from years in the sun, but they can also be caused by tanning beds.
You have cells in your skin that produce melanin, which makes your skin darker after sun exposure.
Scientists believe that suns pots happen when those melanin-producing cells become hyperactive after years of sun exposure. At the same time, they start to cluster together. Then, when you expose those clusters to even more sunlight, they produce darker spots that stand out against the paler skin nearby.
Sun spots tend to occur in people with naturally lighter skin tones in the first place. And they tend to occur on areas that are repeatedly exposed to a lot of sun.
Are Sun Spots Cancerous?
What we call sun spots are not cancerous. In fact, sun spots are harmless and pain free.
That means if you have a spot on your skin that is raised, uneven, sore, painful, or otherwise worrisome, you should have it checked by a doctor ASAP. Those are not characteristics of sun spots. (Learn more about skin cancer awareness in our blog.)
How Do I Prevent Sun Spots?
Whether you already have them or not, the key to preventing sun spots from forming or from reappearing is protecting your skin from the sun. That means lots of sunscreen, shade, sun-protective clothing, and just plain staying indoors.
How Do I Remove Sun Spots?
To reiterate, sun spots are not cancerous and do not need to be removed for medical reasons. If you’re not absolutely certain that you’re dealing with sun spots (and not something more serious), you should consult a skin expert. Don’t try to remove spots on your skin without showing them to someone else first.
As an aesthetically minded med spa, we also understand that sun spots can be very troublesome—especially in Bradenton, where the sun is so very hard to avoid and we tend to show a lot of skin in the summer months. You might not even know that you have sun spots, and then you go outside in a tank top and boom, there they are.
Fortunately, if you want to remove these hyper-pigmented areas, we have a few options for you. Because sun spots reside near the surface of the skin, they can often be erased—or at least lightened—by professionally administered aesthetic exfoliation to remove the hyper-pigmented cell clusters, or by laser treatments to break them up.
Your options for treating your sun spots at Bellagena include:
- Peels (Read our blog about getting ViPeels in summer in Florida.)
- Laser treatments
- Microdermabrasion
- Dermaplane
Talk to your Bellagena expert aesthetician to determine which one of these potential sun spot treatments will be best for you, you skin, your goals, and your lifestyle
In the meantime, as always, slather on that SPF, and we’ll see you on the beach! (Under a big hat and an umbrella, of course.)
