What should you know about prevent age spots?

Age spots, also called sun spots, develop when pigment-producing cells make more melanin in repeatedly sun-exposed skin. They commonly appear on the face, hands, shoulders, and arms, but a new dark patch is not automatically a sun spot. Photoaging can also bring fine lines and uneven tone. A clinician should assess a spot that changes in shape, colour, border, size, or sensation.

Use broad-spectrum sunscreen as directed, reapply after swimming or sweating, seek shade, and use clothing, a hat, and sunglasses. Avoid deliberate tanning. Check exposed skin regularly and photograph changing marks for comparison. Treatments such as a chemical peel, IPL photofacial, picosecond laser treatment, or cryotherapy may be discussed after diagnosis; treating pigment without identifying it can delay care.

Arrange a skin assessment for a new, changing, bleeding, crusting, persistently itchy, or painful patch. Seek prompt care for a sore that does not heal or a lesion with several noticeable changes. Urgency comes from the lesion’s features, not from the fact that it is dark.

Could this be a sun spot or another type of dark patch? What protection suits my skin? If treatment is appropriate, which option and aftercare reduce the chance of irritation or pigment change?