What Are the Causes of Age Spots?

• What are age spots? Age spots are basically those small brown patches which tend to occur on the skin and they are commonly seen to occur in parts such as face, arms and the hands. These age spots have a technical name as “solar lentigines” wherein they are said to be well-defined and uniformly covered regions of the brown or grayish pigment.
• Ageing: Seen as one of the common causes for age spots is ageing, when ageing sets in the skin tends to become thinner as well as weak and it also loses it flexibility thereby making the individual more prone to certain kind of skin issues which can also include age spots.
• Too long exposure to the ultraviolet rays: Constant exposure to the ultraviolet rays are also known to change the color of the skin thereby making it either light or too dark brown. This would not be harmful especially while one is young but as you age the skin would tend to become less effective at the process of regeneration.
• Genes: Genetic is also known to play a vital role as a contributing factor. Those individuals who have a family history of age spots are more likely to inherit this condition.
• Having fair skin: Those individuals who have a fair or light skin are said to be more vulnerable to getting age spots but anyone can get age spots since it is not only limited to fair people.
• Hormonal changes in the body: Due to a high number of pigment producing cells on the skin, it can also lead to occurrence of age spots. However, they are not termed as harmful and do not represent any kind of skin cancer.
• Cherry Hemangiomas: These are basically red small dots which are known to occur as a result of an increase in the growth of blood vessels present on the skin. They are quiet common hence can also lead to occurrence of age spots but mostly are not linked to the skin.
• Lengitigens: In certain cases, lengitigens can also lead to occurrence of age spots and they are often said to be affected in the sun exposed regions of the skin.

Age spots are mostly not harmful and also do not lead to skin cancer but it certainly affects the appearance of the individual. Age spots are seen as a common occurrence in those individuals who are elder than 50 years of age but those who are younger individuals can also develop this condition especially when they spend most of the time in the sun. Few of the symptoms caused due to age spots can be the color of the spots may range from light brown to black, they are often painless, mostly on those regions which get exposed to the sun or they can have the same texture as with the rest of the skin.

Age spots can be treated in several methods and dermatologists are known to have received positive results with the help of prescription strength retinol as well as the HQ creams. These are said to work much faster than the over the counter ones.            Dermatologists have also used microdermabrasion, chemical spot therapy, laser therapy, chemical peels as well as light therapy for lightening those age spots. Few of those procedures would just require one treatment mode whereas few others are known to take around two or three sessions. Few of the most popular home remedies would include the over the counter hydroquinone preparations. These products are said to inhibit the production of melanin in the skin but are known to be even more effective when it comes to treating melasma.