Skin Spots: Causes, Types, Prevention and Treatment Options
Skin spots are areas that look darker or lighter than the surrounding skin. Most dark spots form when melanin, the pigment that gives skin its colour, is overproduced in some areas or distributed unevenly. Because spots differ in cause and depth, treatment is planned according to the person and the type of spot. This article explains the causes of skin spots, common types, ways to prevent them and treatment options.
Why Do Skin Spots Appear?
- Unprotected exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays
- Hormonal changes such as pregnancy and the use of hormone-containing medicines
- Marks left after acne, burns, wounds or irritation
- Some medicines and cosmetic products that make the skin sensitive
- Sun damage accumulating in the skin with age
- Genetic predisposition
Products and methods used without knowing the cause of a spot may make it worse; this is why a medical examination is needed before treatment.
Common Types of Spots
- Sun spots: brown spots on sun-exposed areas such as the face, the backs of the hands and the chest
- Melasma: patches especially on the cheeks, forehead and upper lip, linked to pregnancy, hormone use and the sun, with a tendency to recur
- Post-inflammatory spots: dark marks left after a pimple or irritation has healed
- Freckles: small spots that become more visible in the sun, usually in fair-skinned people
Conditions with loss of colour, such as vitiligo, and birthmarks need a different assessment. Spots and moles that are new, growing quickly, changing in colour or shape, bleeding or itching should be assessed for skin cancer; in this case a doctor should be consulted without delay.
Preventing Skin Spots
Sun protection is the most important step both in preventing spots and in maintaining treatment results. Using a broad-spectrum sunscreen every day and reapplying it during the day, staying in the shade when the sun is strongest, and wearing a hat and sunglasses are recommended. Not squeezing pimples and avoiding products that irritate the skin also reduce the formation of spots. Home remedies such as lemon juice can darken spots by irritating the skin and increasing sun sensitivity; over-the-counter spot creams should not be used without consulting a doctor either.
Treatment Options
Treatment is chosen by the doctor according to the type and depth of the spot and the skin type. Lightening creams recommended by the doctor, chemical peels, laser and intense pulsed light (IPL) treatments may be used alone or together. Spots usually do not disappear completely; they often lighten noticeably and may return without sun protection. Melasma in particular responds slowly to treatment and tends to recur. Redness, crusting and temporary darkening or lightening may occur after laser and peel treatments; this risk is higher in people with darker skin. Some treatments are postponed during pregnancy and breastfeeding or if there is an active infection, a cold sore or sunburn. For more information, see our pigmentation treatment and chemical peel pages.
Author: Op. Dr. Yücel Sarıaltın