The sun doesn’t just warm your skin, or give you a tan. The ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight and tanning bed lights can also damage your skin.

While we call the dark brown discoloration marks that appear on your skin, particularly on your face and hands, “age spots,” sun damage is the real cause of these blemishes. Over the years, sun damage builds up to create visible discoloration.

You might be noticing your age spots more than ever, since the end of this last summer. Did you know that you have real professional treatment options to reduce the appearance of your age spots, or even remove them completely?

At Northstar Dermatology of Fort Worth, Texas, our experienced care team of board-certified dermatologists can help you put together a plan to deal with your sun damage this fall. Additionally, we work with our new and existing patients to prevent additional sun damage next year, and going forward.

Exposure to UV light over time

When you get a suntan, your skin responds to the UV radiation in sunlight by producing extra amounts of a natural pigment present in your skin, called melanin. Age spots are sometimes called solar lentigines due to being produced by this pigmentation response.

Instead of an overall tan, with age spots you develop an unattractive concentrated area of hyper-pigmentation, often appearing brown or tan in color. Clumps of melanin cells can darken more quickly than other areas, leading to age spots.

Because your face and hands are most likely to be out in the sun, those are typically the first places where people start to see age spots. However, age spots can develop anywhere on your skin.

Effective treatment options to restore your skin

With our treatment options at Northstar Dermatology, you can clear your face, hands, and other body areas of age spots and sun damage. We offer multiple therapies, so you can pick approaches that mesh well with your lifestyle and unique health care needs.

If you have unwanted age spots, you could potentially benefit from:

• Prescription topical whitening creams, to gradually even out your skin tone over time
• Dermabrasion, a procedure that uses a rotating brush to gently remove the outer damaged layer of your skin
• Chemical peels, removing one or more layers of your skin to reduce or eliminate your age spots
• Laser treatment, using calibrated equipment to only target darkened areas of your skin, while leaving other areas undisturbed

Depending on the location, size, and color of your age spots, you may need multiple treatment sessions to see your best results.

While age spots themselves don’t indicate skin cancer, brown spots on your skin that you might think are age spots can actually be a cause for concern. If a supposed “age spot” gets bigger, changes in color or shape, or begins to bleed, get evaluated at Northstar Dermatology right away for skin cancer.

To learn more about your options for removing your age spots and turning back the clock on your skin’s accumulated sun damage, get in touch with the experts at Northstar Dermatology today. Call our Keller, Texas offices at 817-369-8518 to book your appointment, or request an appointment online.