Age Spots
What can you do about age spots?
For many people, age spots are a fact of life. As we age, they appear on the backs of hands as well as our arms and other parts of our bodies. However, they aren’t always welcomed as a sign of the passing years – we just want to get rid of them. Thankfully, science has come up with a few ways for the appearance of age spots to be lessened or even help them disappear completely. But there are also ways that you can prevent them from popping up so soon.
What are they?
Age spots are the skin’s natural response to aging. As the skin becomes thinner, the skin is able to show the various stores of melanin in the skin – showing as spots. They are typically caused by sun exposure (as your hands tend to have the most sun exposure) and generally occur from the later fifties to early sixties. However, when your skin ages more rapidly, you can see them earlier than then.
Can you prevent them?
A matter of hot topic is whether or not you can actually prevent age spots from occurring in the first place. And while there are some studies showing that the application of sunscreen to the backs of hands can help to slow their appearance, the general location of the backs of the hands in relation to the sun causes it to be a more likely scenario. But if you’re looking to lessen the appearance, be sure to always apply sunscreen to the backs of your hands no matter if it’s cloudy or not. You always want to protect the skin anyways, but stalling the appearance of age spots is a great motivator.
Can you get rid of them?
Once you have age spots, it’s a little trickier to get rid of them – though not impossible. You can talk to your doctor about special skin fade creams or other topical treatments. These contain ingredients that will help to tone down the melanin in the skin. There are also over the counter skin fade creams, but you may want to stay away from those. Many are untested and aren’t guaranteed to provide any results.
More treatments to consider
Your doctor can also arrange for you to have laser treatments or dermabrasion procedures in order to reduce the overall appearance of the spots. These are much more invasive, but they can get to the deeper layers of the skin, unlike topical therapies. These therapies can be covered by some insurance plans, but as this is considered a cosmetic procedure, you may need to pay out of pocket.
Age spots are not the end of the world, but if you want to reduce their appearance, you could always try makeup to cover them up – it’s cheap and easy, plus you don’t have to head to a doctor. In the end, you may want to consider them a part of life and try to prevent them if you still ‘have time.’
Try Mela-D by La Roche Posay if you experience age spots.