Sun damage is the common one, and it is cumulative
Solar lentigines, the flat brown spots people call sun spots or age spots, are the result of years of ultraviolet exposure rather than any single burn. In this part of Florida the exposure is year-round and it accrues on ordinary days: driving, walking to the car, an afternoon on the course or the water. That is why people who never considered themselves sun worshippers still develop them, and why they tend to appear on the face, chest, shoulders and backs of the hands.
Melasma is not sun damage and heat makes it worse
Melasma appears as symmetrical patches, usually across the cheeks, forehead and upper lip, and it is driven by hormones as much as by light. Pregnancy, hormonal contraception and hormone therapy are common triggers. Critically, heat aggravates it, which means IPL and aggressive resurfacing can set it back rather than clear it. Melasma is managed over the long term rather than removed in a course of treatments, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not identified it correctly.
What suits you is decided at consultation, from your skin and your history. Consultations are complimentary.
IPL photofacial is the most direct treatment: broad-spectrum light is absorbed by the pigment, breaks it up, and the spots darken and flake away over one to two weeks. Chemical peels work from the surface down on overall tone and are often used in a series. Microneedling improves tone alongside texture. Which is right depends on your skin type, the depth of the pigment and how your skin responds to inflammation.
Performed or supervised by our medical director, Marc L. Epstein, M.D.
Deeper skin tones need a different plan, not a smaller one
Any treatment that inflames the skin can trigger post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, and the risk is higher in richer skin tones. That does not put treatment out of reach. It changes which device or acid is used, at what strength, what preparation happens beforehand, and how strictly sun is managed afterward. If you have ever darkened after a spot, a scratch or a burn, say so at consultation, because it is one of the most useful things you can tell your provider.
What suits you is decided at consultation, from your skin and your history. Consultations are complimentary.
Without sun protection, it comes back
Clearing pigment does not remove the cause. Skin that produced spots once will do it again under the same exposure, and treated skin is more sensitive to ultraviolet light for a period afterward. Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen, reapplied, plus a hat is the maintenance. It is also the reason a course of treatment before a summer of unprotected sun is money spent twice.
Performed or supervised by our medical director, Marc L. Epstein, M.D.
What suits you is decided at consultation, from your skin and your history. Consultations are complimentary.
Performed or supervised by our medical director, Marc L. Epstein, M.D.
What suits you is decided at consultation, from your skin and your history. Consultations are complimentary.
Performed or supervised by our medical director, Marc L. Epstein, M.D.
