Goodbye summer, hello skin blemishes
At the end of summer it is common for new blemishes to appear on your facial skin and neck, specially when you reach your 50's. These blemishes are commonly known as “age spots”, “sunspots” or their more technical name lentigo.
How to spot lentigo
Lentigo is a benign alteration to the skin. Normally it is of a light or dark brown colour. It is usually evenly distributed pigmentation with soft edges. It usually appears in the zones that get the most sun exposure such as the forearms, the neck, the back of the hands and the face.
Why do I have lentigo on my skin?
The main cause of the appearance of these age spots or lentigo is sun exposure. During exposure to the sun, the brown pigment lipofuscin, also called age pigment, accumulates in the epidermis.
Solar radiation is the most known cause but not the only one. The causes that produce lentigo or age spots could also include alcohol, cigarette smoke and certain medication.
How to treat age spots
This type of blemish on the skin is benign and therefore doesn't require medical treatment. Even so, especially when it appears on female skin, you can use depigmentation products to eliminate it, such as the depigmentation line (DSP) by MartiDerm. In the following post we show you a beauty ritual which you can follow to treat the blemishes on your face.
Advice to prevent sunspots
Sunspots (age spots or lentigo) usually appear most frequently in light skin and skin that gets more exposure to the sun. To avoid their appearance you can follow a series of recommendations:
- Avoid intense exposure to UV radiation.
- Appropriately protect yourself from the sun by using cream with a high solar protection factor.
- Following a diet rich in antioxidants through food that contains vitamin C, vitamin E, carotenoids, coenzyme Q10, bioflavanoids, zinc and selenium will also help to avoid the appearance of skin blemishes.
- Avoiding alcohol and tobacco will also encourage your skin to be healthier and less aged.
Due to the extreme temperature changes that our skin is exposed to, the months of summer and autumn are usually times of the year where we should pay more attention to our skin. Always protecting your skin with sun cream, cleaning and hydrating it are the three actions which will ensure that you have healthy and looked-after skin.
