Identifying Age Spots and Sun Spots

As time goes on, we start to notice brown spots and freckles — “souvenirs of Florida” — on the backs of our hands and on other sun exposed areas like the upper chest and face. At first these brown spots are small and light colored, but eventually they become a cosmetic problem — an obvious sign of premature aging of the skin because of ultraviolet damage from sun exposure or from tanning beds.

By using modern high-SPF sunscreens like Ombrelle-60™ or Anthelios-60™ we can safely enjoy outdoor activities like gardening, golf and boating, and greatly reduce the rate at which our skin deteriorates. Patients who get into the habit of applying Retisol-A 0.01% cream (a prescription product which combines a retinoid and an SPF-15 sunscreen) to their faces every morning will usually see a considerable improvement in the appearance of their skin after 1-2 years, and if treatment is continued long-term patients will notice that their skin ages more slowly.

Hats and sun protective clothing can also slow down the rate at which “age spots” appear – and also reduce the chance that we will develop skin cancer. You can learn more about how to prevent sun damage, learn about the early warning signs of skin cancer and see photos of typical skin cancers at Skin Cancer Guide.ca.

The early warning signs of skin cancer include:

* new and unusual growths on the skin
* moles and freckles which have unusual colors or mixtures of colors
* moles and freckles with irregular borders
* growths on the skin which bleed, or which form an open sore which does not heal within a few weeks.

It is not too late for those of us who already have sun spots and age spots. I have seen many patients who had sun damage improve gradually over a period of 3-5 years simply in response to daily sun protection. For those who want more rapid and complete improvement in their sun damaged skin, one or two treatments with the Medlite™ laser can fade or eliminate brown “age spots” on the face, chest and hands within a few weeks.

Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments, for example with the Cutera Xeo-600, can be used in cases where there is a background of tiny freckles and brown discoloration – sometimes erasing 20 years of irregular pigment with a series of 20 minute treatments! Where there is severe sun damage or when a person wishes the most rapid improvement (for example, if a daughter is getting married in two months) a medicine called Levulan™ is applied to the skin for one hour before treatment with the Cutera Xeo-600. Levulan™ is absorbed by cells in the skin which are misbehaving, and then is activated by light from the Xeo-600. The abnormal cells are shed from the skin over a period of 1-2 weeks, revealing fresher, healthier skin – and giving the patient a “fresh start”. What ever the type of spot – if you have concerns, or if you see changes in its appearance, it is important that you have it inspected by your family physician or dermatologist.

Preventing Melasma Damage with Sun Protection

Melasma is a common increase of pigmentation that occurs exclusively in sun-exposed areas, in particular on the face. (Read Sun Damage for more information.)

• It is much more common in women between the ages of 20-40
• Melasma is less common in older women, and is seldom seen in women taking estrogen replacement therapy.
• Melasma rarely affects men.
• Melasma is more of a problem in people who have relatively dark skin to begin with, and because melasma is made worse by sun exposure it tends to be more of a problem in the spring and summer.
• Melasma can be a particular problem for people in the service industry, where personal appearance can affect the amount of tips earned and can also affect gross sales by servers.

Melasma usually causes three different patterns of symmetrical pigmentation on the face, affecting most commonly the central face (cheeks, forehead, upper lip, nose, and chin); or less commonly the cheeks and nose, or the cheeks and jaw line. Melasma also can cause patches of pigmentation on the forearms, but this is rare.

There is no special diet, health food, vitamin, “magic lotion” which is useful for the treatment of melasma or other forms of facial pigmentation, and time and money should not be wasted on those things.

Melasma usually improves - sometimes to a great extent - in response to the faithful use a high-SPF, broad-spectrum sunscreen- SPF60 every morning and a good fading cream at night. Sun protection needs to be continued long-term in order to reduce the risk of relapse of melasma. Severe cases can be treated with a prescription for the mixture of 4 parts Anthelios® SPF60 sunscreen with 1 part Tazorac® 0.05% cream every morning, and Lustra® cream at night.

In some cases, improvement in melasma and other forms of facial pigmentation can be speeded up with intense pulsed light (IPL) treatments, in particular by the Cutera 600 IPL which is optimized for the reduction in unwanted facial pigment. Sun avoidance and using a sunscreen every day are essential steps to preventing melasma.