If you've discovered brown, patchy marks on your face that you never noticed before, they could be age spots, also known as liver spots. Age spots are small pigmented areas on the skin that occur due to sun damage, age and heredity. Some over-the-counter creams can help reduce the appearance of age spots slightly, but for more drastic results you may need a prescription medication from a dermatologist. To remove your age spots completely, you may need a dermatological treatment like laser therapy or microdermabrasion.
Step 1
Dab on an over-the-counter bleaching cream that contains either hydroquinone, glycolic acid, kojic acid or deoxyarbutin, suggests the Mayo Clinic. These active ingredients can help fade age spots, but may not provide startling results.
Step 2
Ask your doctor about prescription creams to reduce the appearance of age spots. Prescription bleaching creams that contain hydroquinone or contain retinoids. derived from vitamin A, can help fade age spots.
Step 3
Get your age spots frozen off with liquid nitrogen, recommends John E. Wolf, Jr., M.D., chairman of the dermatology department at Baylor College of Medicine. A dermatologist can apply liquid nitrogen to the age spots on your face, which freezes away dark pigment.
Step 4
Consult your doctor about laser treatments for age spots. Laser therapy "destroys the extra melanocytes that create the dark pigment without damaging the skin's surface," says the Mayo Clinic. It may require several laser treatments to completely remove age spots from the skin.
Step 5
Consider dermabrasion or microdermabrasion. Dermabrasion is a dermatological technique that removes the entire top layer of skin, while microdermabrasion is slightly more gentle and only removes the outermost skin cells from the face. Dermabrasion requires more healing time than microdermabrasion, but both procedures can provide impressive results in evening out skin tone and reducing the appearance of age spots.
Tips and Warnings
- Wear sunscreen and sunglasses when going outside to prevent more age spots from appearing.
- Consult several doctors before determining the right procedure for you.
Things You'll Need
- Over-the-counter bleaching cream
- Prescription bleaching cream
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