When Is Chemical Peel Recommended for Sun Spots?

Sun spots, also called solar lentigines, are flat areas of increased pigment that develop after accumulated daylight exposure. A peel can loosen pigmented surface cells and make tone look more even. It does not establish whether a spot is harmless, and it may not reach pigment located deeper in the skin.

A clinician will consider the spot's appearance, stability, position, skin sensitivity, and your history of darkening after irritation. Treatment may be delayed if the skin is sunburned, inflamed, infected, broken, or recently treated with another procedure.

Book a skin assessment before treatment and describe any change in size, shape, colour, sensation, or surface. Give a full list of skincare products and medicines, including products used for acne or pigmentation. Follow preparation instructions and avoid tanning around the treatment period.

After the peel, keep the area clean and moisturised as directed, leave shedding skin alone, and use broad-spectrum sunscreen. Temporary redness, tightness, sensitivity, or flaking can occur. Your clinician may review the area before suggesting another session or a different treatment.

Do not have a cosmetic peel placed over a new, changing, irregular, bleeding, crusting, painful, or persistently itchy spot until it has been examined. After treatment, seek advice for blistering, severe swelling, spreading redness, pus, fever, or increasing pain.

Ask how the spot was identified, whether a peel is appropriate for its depth and your skin tone, how to protect nearby skin, and what recovery to expect. Ask how the result will be monitored and which alternatives suit a spot that does not respond.