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No matter how small those brown spots are, you just want to get rid of them. They're especially bothersome when they show up on your face!
Ahead we'll show you some effective ways how to get rid of or at least lighten those annoying age spots on your face.
Anyone who
gets regular sun exposure will eventually begin to notice sun dark spots on their
skin and face.
Sunspots, (solar lentigines or age spots as they are also called), are caused by prolonged exposure to the sun - specifically ultra violet rays.
Whether you have brown spots on your face, or just a few liver spots on your hands or neck...
They are annoying and unattractive. So which products work to get rid of them? We'll list a few treatment options below - including one that worked really well for me!
Vitamin C can help lighten and brighten skin tone and discoloration. Vitamin C naturally helps suppress pigment formation, so over time, those brown sunspots on your face and hands will begin to lighten up.
According to The Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology (JCAD) "Vitamin C is the most powerful antioxidant in the skin, vitamin C has been shown to protect against photoaging, ultraviolet-induced immunosuppression, and photocarcinogenesis. It also has an antiaging effect by increasing collagen synthesis, stabilizing collagen fibers, and decreasing collagen degradation. It decreases melanin formation, thereby reducing pigmentation. 1
And, as a side benefit, Vitamin C helps protect against collagen degradation and increase production.
Below you can see my results only after a few montns of using my own Vitamin C serum. Compare the dark sun spot on my neck skin (on the left) to the after picture on the right. It's almost gone and my neck skin looks firmer too.
Sounds to good to be true? Well, there are some facts you need to know to get the best results.
Most treatments usually work better on the facial skin because it’s thinner. Treating sunspots
on your arms and legs can be really difficult due to the thickness of the skin in those
areas.
L-Ascorbic Acid is the best form of Vitamin C to use on your skin to lighten spots and discoloration. However, this form degrades quickly. So the chances of getting good results are slim, unless you use fresh Vitamin C.
Most store bought creams that contain Vitamin C are not potent or fresh enough. The best way to get good results is to make your own Vitamin C serum and use it within 30 days, then make another fresh batch.
What are some other treatments to get rid of sunspots on skin?
Exfoliation such as scrubs, chemical peels, laser resurfacing, and microdermabrasion will diminish their severity.
A less costly treatment includes lightening serums and lotions formulated for sun damaged skin.
Two good ones to consider are:
- Clinique’s Even Better Clinical Skin Corrector
- Murad Skin Lightening 30 Day Kit
Prescription retinols and exfoliating creams such as Tretinoin and Renova are also good at fading spots as well.
More extreme measures to remove spots from sensitive facial skin are chemical peels, IPL (intense pulsed light) and laser resurfacing like:
Ask your dermatologist which is best for your condition.
Over-the-counter retinols can help lighten sunspots on the face (not the body), but my take a longer time to achieve desired results.
A relatively quick, in-office procedure is Cryotherapy. It freezes the spot using liquid nitrogen, which causes scabbing and after a week fall off to reveal new skin.
NOTE: This may not work for deep sunspots on the arms and legs. I've had this done several times and still have spots on my lower legs.
Forget it!
They really don’t work, at least not for me.
You might be able to lighten them a bit, but they’ll never go away completely.
None-the-less if you’re interested in trying some a few natural solutions or you only have one or two spots to worry about.
You can try rubbing lemon juice, buttermilk, vitamin E, or a green tea bag directly on the area twice daily until they are gone.
And remember to wear UVA/UVB sunscreen of at least 30 SPF daily so you don’t worsen or create new sunspots on your skin.
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