What are age spots? Well, age spots are areas of the skin that show some sort of irregularity in color. This can be dark, rough patches, or just an area of darkened skin. Typically these areas are noted on the back of the hands and arms and on the forehead. They generally show up sometime around middle age but they can come sooner. So just what causes them? Well, age spots are the result of skin damage. Skin damage can be caused by a variety of things, but the main one is sun exposure. Too much exposure to ultraviolet light stimulates the production of melanin in the skin. Exposure over the years will cause the melanin to become irregular and therefore the age spots begin to appear. The reason why we tend to see them mostly on the arms, hands and face is because these areas are the ones that tend to be subjected to the suns constant rays; thus causing the more irregular pigments to show up in these areas. As with most everything out there, you have some options that you can choose from when it comes to taking care of age spots. If you go into facilities that offer treatments for age spots, usually they tend to be the harsher medical treatments including acid peels and liquid nitrogen. But if we are trying to avoid issues with the skin, then the medical treatments may not be the choice. There are other options out there that are more natural and less harsh on the skin; making them the secret of the beauty industry for years. As with anything that has to do with beauty, the Chinese has cornered the market on natural remedies for treatment of age spots. Over spans of time, the Chinese has perfected the perfect natural remedies for ridding you body of unsightly age spots. Most of the ingredients found in their remedies are exotic and are difficult for the average person to obtain on their own. However, they are herbal based and much less harsh on your skin then the acid treatments or bleaching that people do. These concoctions however can only be obtained from someone who is an expert in Chinese medicine. So unless you have connections, this option is out for you. The other option that is much more obtainable for the average person is by using a natural acid, such as fruit based washes on the skin. By acid fruit based treatments we mean applying acidic fruits such as lemon juice, cranberry juice and papaya juice directly to the skin. This might be a messy way to do it, but it does show promising results over a repeated long period of time. If you want your results faster, then the only recourse that you have would be to purchase some of the antiaging creams that are out on the market today. These creams are just as likely to give you the same results in a more efficient time period. Most of the creams that are on the market today contain vitamin A and vitamin C, both of which have shown the most promise in treatment for uneven skin pigmentation. You definitely will not be able to get quicker, more effective results from herbal remedies or acid from juices alone. While we have all of these wonderful antiaging creams on the market today, the biggest way to prevent age spots from even occurring in the first place would be by protecting your skin. It is important to make sure to wear sunblock with at least SPF of 15 or more whenever you are going to be out in the elements. This will not only prevent new aging spots from occurring, but it will prevent the old ones from getting even darker and more unsightly. It does not matter how much you try to treat your aging skin, if you do not take the steps to take care of it in the first place, then nothing that you do will end up helping at all.
Most women hate them. Those odd-looking small brown spots that suddenly appear on your hands, face and chest - not as pretty as freckles nor as distinctive as moles - age spots. Most of us hate them because we associate them with aging but are we right - and more importantly what can we do to get rid of them?
Since your genes give you your skin type they also influence how prone you are to age spots - but by far the biggest factor is how much sun exposure you've had. If you've inherited sensitive or delicate skin then sun exposure is likely to produce age spots at an earlier age - even as soon as your thirties. What is fairly certain though is that somewhere along the line, you will see the results of sun exposure in your face and body - and it may not be pretty.
So - despite their name and contrary to popular belief, age spots aren't caused simply by your skin getting older. They are the visible effects of sun damage - if you lived to be 100 years old and had never been exposed to the sun, you wouldn't have a single age spot.
Most age spots are painless and harmless, so there's no need to worry about them as a health risk. Of course - just because age spots are unlikely to damage your health, that doesn't mean you're happy to live with them.
Blemishes on the skin can cause you to feel less happy about your appearance and undermine your overall self-confidence - and nothing adds more years than lack of confidence about how you look. Age spots are naturally associated with age and you may be self-conscious about them simply because of that.
But the good news is you don't have to put up with them if you're unhappy - taking action to deal with something so apparently trivial as age spots can be a huge boost to your self-esteem. Age spots can be treated with increasing success nowadays and you have a range of options to choose from.
To start with, you may want to consider a fade cream which is simply a topical anti aging skin treatment that contains a skin bleaching agent ? in the US this is usually hydroquinone. The level of the active ingredient is important - the fade cream will not work effectively if it contains only a small amount of the key active ingredient. The effect of a sufficiently strong fade cream will be to lighten the age spots gradually over time so they become less noticeable.
Other ingredients are used in fade creams outside the US where there is a bit of controversy about the effect of hydroquinone on skin cell health. Other topical creams are based on vitamin A (Retinol),Vitamin K, glycolic acid and licorice extract - again used at high enough doses to help lessen the appearance of the sun spot over time.
What is important in using any type of cream for age spots is that you keep going even if you don't get an instant result. Fade creams are formulated to work gradually over several weeks - otherwise the level of active ingredients needed would be so high as to be harmful. You need to be aware that unless you apply the cream as indicated by the makers over the period of time prescribed - you're unlikely to get a good result.
If you want a more instant result - you may prefer to opt for a chemical peel - perhaps after an initial application of a good fade cream. Chemical peels that use glycolic acid work by removing the outer layers of skin and the age spots together. You need to be aware that a chemical peel won't necessarily remove your age spots in one treatment. You may need repeated treatments in order to completely remove them.
If you want a more long lasting method of treating your age spots than a chemical peel - consider laser resurfacing which eliminates the age spots by removing the surface layer of the skin. Laser treatment is extremely effective and likely to be much more long term than a chemical peel but it can be costly.
If you've spent a lot of money on getting rid of your age spots - you're going to want to make sure they don't come back. The best way to prevent age spots recurring is to use an effective sunscreen or sun block.
An anti aging moisturizer with a broad spectrum sunscreen should be an essential part of your daily skin care routine. The result will be younger looking skin - less wrinkled, smoother and free of age spots.
Both Tymon Hytem & Eileen Gravelle are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Tymon Hytem has sinced written about articles on various topics from Fitness, Legal Matters and Legal Matters. Bekie Cohner is a health and wellness professional with 16 years experience helping people make the right decisions for everything from choosing the right