If you are an outdoor lover, then summer is the best season to spend time outside. But being an al fresco and spending too much time in the sun can bring a lot of skin issues and the most common skin condition that occurs is ‘Sun Spots’. These sun spots can look like freckles, dark spots or brown spots and surely these sun spots on face can look dreadful. However, it is possible to cover these spots with makeup by applying a full coverage foundation or base. But if you are not fond of applying make-up everyday on your face, then covering these sun spots can be really difficult for you and trust me these tiny spots can ruin your look. Well, if there is a problem, there is always a solution to that problem. Doesn’t matter where you stand on the spectrum of UV induced damage, taking action can protect your skin and your future exposure to the sun too. Before getting into the treatments of sun spots, let’s have a sneaky look at what are these sun spots and how they occur.

What are Sun Spots?

Sun spots are also known as liver spots, brown spots, dark spots or solar lentigo. These sun spots usually look like freckles but tend to be little bigger in size. These spots are harmless and do not cause any serious skin problem. These sun spots are sometimes slightly raised or even little bumpy and sometimes they are just flat.

How Sun Spots Occur On Skin?

These sun spots on skin occur due to the focal increase of melanin (which is a skin pigment) in the skin just because of excessive UV exposure of your skin. Due to the exposure to sun, the body starts producing excessive pigment imparting cells i.e. melanocytes. These melanocytes are responsible for the dark color of the skin and they create a single spot instead of a uniform spreading of pigment across your skin surface. This is the basic defense mechanism of the body from the harmful UV rays.

Area of Sun Spots Occurrence:

• Around lips
• Nose
• Forehead
• Hands
• Shoulder
• Arms

Who is At Risk Of Developing Sun Spots?

1. If you have a fair complexion, then you are more prone to these sun spots
2. If you are allergic or more sensitive to the UV rays, then there are more chances that you will get these sun spots.
3. If your body has increased concentration of the melanin, then you are prone to the sun spots.
4. If you have severe sun burn to tanned skin, then chances are these can turn into sun spots.
5. if you are aging or have any genetic or vitamin deficiencies, you will get sun spots.
6. If you are pregnant, living a stressful life or have poor functioning of the liver, there can be sun spot formation.
7. If you have premature aging, then excessive exposure to the UV rays can burn your skin and can cause sun spots.

Ways to prevent Sun Spots:

Most of the people have a concern that how to prevent summer spots or freckles which are common in summer. It becomes a challenge for people to maintain their even skin tone and they are constantly looking for the ways to treat sun spots or summer spots. Following are the few tips to avoid sun spots and will also help your skin from excessive exposure of the sun.

• Slather on A High SPF: Sun can be a foe to you in summer, so provide a screen with a high SPF sunscreen to your skin. Apply sunscreen at least 15-20 minutes prior to the UV exposure. Sunscreen forms a protective barrier between your skin and harmful UV rays.
  
• Natural Skin Brightener: There are various skin brightening agents which you can use to reduce dark spots on the skin. These skin brightening agents containing vitamins for glowing and clear skin. Vitamins like vitamin C act as a bleaching agent and help to remove dark spots from the face.
• Exfoliate: Do not lessen the use of exfoliator in summer. You can easily manage your skin discoloration with the help of exfoliation. Exfoliation with a gentle scrub can help to remove the dead skin cells and these sun spots will eventually fade away.
• Use Products Containing Retinol: Retinol or vitamin A helps in the skin resurfacing. The use of retinol containing products will help to remove these pigmented spots and will keep the melanin content in control.
• Diet Full of Antioxidants: Antioxidants speed up the body’s natural defense mechanism. Try to intake more foods or supplements containing antioxidants which will help to remove these sun spots from face.

Natural Treatments for Sun Spots:

The world is full of ancient plants and herbs and their use in home remedies for sun spots is what everyone is seeking for. There are various natural remedies for dark spots which can be used to reduce the appearance of dark

Aloe vera

• Aloe vera has the natural healing properties and have been used to treat sun burns.
• It will moisturize your skin and will lighten your sun spots.
• You can directly apply the aloe vera gel on these spots.

Buttermilk

• Buttermilk contains the lactic acid which helps in exfoliation of the skin.
• It helps to lighten your sun spots & dark spots.
• You can directly apply the buttermilk with cotton on spots.

Cucumber

• Cucumber is known for its skin repairing & moisturizing properties.
• It also helps to lighten your sun spots.
• You can directly place the cucumber slices on dark spots.

Tomato

• Tomato is rich in enzymes & antioxidants. It act as a bleaching agent also.
• It helps to repair and lighten your sun spots.
• You can apply a mask or directly rub on your dark spots.

Skin Treatments For Sun Spots:

In case these remedies do not work for you, then seek a dermatologist immediately. If you want to get rid of sun spots, then there are various treatments to reduce the dark spots which will give you a clear, glowing and flawless skin.

• Chemical Peels For Spots: Chemical peels for sun spots help to remove the dark spots and also improves the appearance of the facial skin. Chemical peels smoothen the skin texture through the controlled destruction of the epidermal layer of skin which results in the fresher and healthier looking skin. It also boosts the collagen production and cell regeneration resulting in clear skin.
• Laser Skin Resurfacing Treatment: In laser treatment for marks, tiny dots of laser beam penetrate deep into the dermal layer or in the scar which pushes out the dead skin cells. In laser treatment, heat is generated that stimulates the collagen production and results in the regeneration of the new skin cells. The dead cells causing scar will be replaced by the new cells leaving the clear skin behind.
• Microdermabrasion: In microdermabrasion, micro-crystals are used. These micro-crystals act as a scrubber and help in the exfoliation of the dead skin cells. These crystals scrub away the outer layer of the skin revealing new and clear skin.
• Laser Photo Facial: In laser photo facial for sun spots, shots of light is transmitted to the skin which penetrates deep into the skin which disperses the brown spots and also boosts the collagen production in the body resulting in new skin cell formation and clear skin.