Sun, Skin, and Spots: Why Age Spots Surface Over Time

If you’ve noticed more brown spots showing up on your face, chest, or hands as you age you’re not imagining things. The sun’s rays may feel warm and relaxing, but they can leave lasting marks on your skin called age spots. At SafiraMD Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Center in Alpharetta, GA, our renowned medspa specialists help patients in and around Milton understand why these spots appear and how to treat them. Today’s blog explains the role of UV exposure.

Understanding Age Spots

Age spots are flat, brown patches that develop on skin in areas exposed to the sun for years. They’re especially common in areas like:

• The face
• The backs of the hands
• The chest
• The shoulders

These spots form when your skin produces excess melanin, the pigment responsible for skin color.

While age plays a role, it’s really the accumulated sun exposure that leads to age spots.

Even short periods of unprotected sun exposure add up. That’s why age spots are more common in people over 40: They’ve had more time in the sun. 

How Sun Causes Age Spots

Your body makes melanin to protect deeper layers of skin from UV radiation. But after years of repeated sun exposure, melanin can build up in concentrated areas, creating noticeable dark spots.

UV rays penetrate deep into your skin, especially UVA rays, which are present all day, all year, even on cloudy days. Over time, this chronic sun exposure weakens your skin’s ability to create melanin evenly, leading to patchy pigmentation.

Once age spots appear, they don’t vanish spontaneously. They may darken unless you take steps to protect and treat your skin.

Safe, Nonsurgical Treatment Options for Age Spots

At SafiraMD, your provider will tailor an age spot treatment plan to your skin’s unique needs. Options may include:

• Laser Procedures: Laser pigment removal can target individual age spots, while laser skin resurfacing removes discolored surface layers while encouraging healthy skin growth.
• Chemical Peels: A customized peel gently exfoliates dead skin and fades brown spots.
• HydraFacial: This relaxing, multi-step treatment deeply cleanses, hydrates, and infuses the skin with brightening serums to improve tone and fade spots.
• IPL Photofacial: Pulses of light energy can break up pigmentation and reduce vascular lesions like tiny veins.

Age Spot Treatments in Alpharetta, GA

Call SafiraMD Medical Aesthetics & Wellness Center at 678-235-8221 to schedule your consultation and banish your age spots in Alpharetta.