You can call them dark spots, freckles or age spots but no matter what name you attach to them, there is no denying that sun is powerful enough to penetrate your skin and leave you with darker, discolored patches of skin.
The severity of your dark spots can depend on a few things, your age, how often you have been in the sun unprotected, and even your skin tone can play a role but no matter what the cause is, there is a solution to reduce the visibility of sunspots and protect yourself from developing more of them.
What Are Sunspots?
Sunspots can come in all shapes and sizes, While some may look small like freckles, others can be larger and they mostly appear on your face, neck, and hands. No matter their size, they are all forms of sun damage and almost everyone will experience them at some point in their life.
While age spots are common and can be completely normal, it’s important to keep an eye on them. If you notice age spots, you need to make sure that you don’t actually have a serious skin issue. This is especially the case if the spots are very dark or have recently changed their appearance in which case, you should visit your dermatologist.
Tip: You can avoid sunspots by adding a layer of SPF 30 over your Repair & Release Cream daily.
What Causes Them?
Sunspots can be caused by a number of things but the most common is exposure to UV rays. When the UV hits your skin, it causes darker pigmentation which is why most people notice their sun spots in summer months when the sun is strongest and they are outside the longest.
Even if you’re slathering yourself with SPF daily, the sunspots you see can actually be from damage that occurred years ago. Unlike freckles specifically which tend to show up directly after sun exposure, some age spots can take years to form on your face or may not be visible with natural lighting (like the image above). Those kinds of sunspots are often the hardest to get rid of.
How To Prevent and Treat Them
The easiest way to prevent sunspots is to limit your skins’ exposure to the sun. This can mean applying (and re-applying) sunscreen throughout the day. We recommend minimum protection of SPF 30 for your face and most face sunscreens are perfectly safe and effective when used on your neck, chest, and hands as well. A large sun hat goes a long way as well for sun spots on your face and neck.
To treat sunspots that have already appeared on your skin, you want to make sure you’re using products like our Repair & Release Cream that include ingredients like Aloe Vera and Vitamin C which are proven to not only sooth and lighten the spots exposed to the sun, but also help limit the amount of melanin that develops, which is the pigment that makes skin darker.
What do you do to limit the appearance of sunspots? Let us know in the comments below!
