Summer in Southern California means endless beach days, weekend trips to the desert, and beautiful patio dinners. But while we love our year-round sunshine, our skin often pays the price. If you have noticed small, flat, dark patches popping up on your face, chest, or hands lately, you are not alone.
At Ali Sajjadian, MD, sunspots are one of the most common complaints we hear during the summer months. To help you understand what they are and how to safely get rid of them, we have compiled the ultimate guide answering every major question about sunspots.
What Exactly Are Sunspots?
Sunspots, medically known as solar lentigines (and often called age spots or liver spots), are flat, brown, or dark tan patches that develop on areas of the skin frequently exposed to ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Unlike freckles, which often fade during the winter months, sunspots are permanent fixtures in the skin’s structure until they are professionally treated. They are essentially a sign of cumulative sun damage, meaning they are the result of all the sun exposure you have accumulated over your lifetime, not just from your last beach trip.
Why Do They Form?
When UV rays hit your skin, they stimulate your melanocytes (the pigment-producing cells in your epidermis). These cells produce melanin (pigment) to act as a natural umbrella to protect your skin cells from radiation damage.
When your skin receives heavy, repeated sun exposure over the years, these melanocytes can become overactive in localized areas. Instead of producing an even tan, they produce a concentrated clump of pigment, resulting in a permanent sunspot.
Where Do They Most Commonly Appear?
Sunspots show up wherever the sun hits the hardest. The most common areas include:
- The Face: Especially the forehead, bridge of the nose, and the high points of the cheeks.
- The Décolletage: The neck and upper chest area, which often gets missed during sunscreen application.
- The Shoulders and Upper Back: Frequently exposed during outdoor summer activities.
- The Back of the Hands: One of the most common places where sun damage betrays our true age.
Is It a Sunspot, Melasma, or Skin Cancer?
It is very common to mistake other skin conditions for standard sunspots. However, understanding the exact nature of your pigmentation is crucial because treating them requires entirely different clinical approaches.
Here is how we distinguish sunspots from other common forms of pigmentation:
Standard Sunspots (Solar Lentigines)
These are the most straightforward type of sun damage. Visually, they appear as small, well-defined, isolated round or oval brown spots. They are usually scattered asymmetrically across the face, chest, or hands depending on where you get the most sun. Once a sunspot forms, its size and shape remain relatively stable, and it will not fade on its own without targeted intervention.
Melasma
Unlike isolated sunspots, melasma presents as large, blotchy, mask-like patches with irregular borders. It is almost always perfectly symmetrical, mirroring itself on both sides of the face (typically across the cheeks, forehead, or upper lip). While UV light plays a role, melasma is primarily triggered by hormonal fluctuations such as pregnancy, birth control, or hormone therapies. It is incredibly reactive, meaning even a small amount of heat (like a hot shower or a workout) or minimal sun exposure can cause it to darken dramatically overnight.
Actinic Keratosis and Melanoma
This is the most critical distinction. While sunspots are completely benign, severe UV damage can also lead to pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions. Signs that a spot is not a normal sunspot include irregular or bleeding borders, multiple colors mixed within a single lesion (like shades of black, red, or blue), or a rough, scaly texture that won’t go away.
Before scheduling any cosmetic laser or peeling treatment for hyperpigmentation, our experts will perform a clinical evaluation to confirm that your spots are benign solar lentigines and completely safe to treat.
How Do We Safely Treat Sunspots?
In a plastic surgery and advanced medical aesthetics practice, we have access to medical-grade modalities that can target pigment deep within the skin layers. The most effective options for clear skin include:
In-Office Energy Treatments
- IPL (Intense Pulsed Light): Often considered the gold standard for surface-level sun damage. IPL delivers broad-spectrum light that targets the brown pigment. The spot darkens temporarily (looking like coffee grounds) before naturally flaking off within a week, leaving clear skin underneath.
- Picosecond & Q-Switched Lasers: For stubborn, deeper, or isolated sunspots, these high-precision lasers use photoacoustic energy (ultra-fast sound waves) rather than heat to shatter the melanin into microscopic dust-like particles, which your body’s immune system then naturally clears away.
Medical-Grade Peels & Topicals
- Clinical Chemical Peels: Advanced chemical peels accelerate cellular turnover, lifting the hyperpigmented upper layers of the skin to reveal fresh, evenly toned skin beneath.
- Medical-Grade Skincare: Incorporating prescription-strength or clinical-grade ingredients like hydroquinone, vitamin C, kojic acid, and retinoids helps inhibit the enzyme responsible for production of new pigment (tyrosinase).
Can I Get Rid of Sunspots at Home?
Over-the-counter brightening creams can slightly soften very mild, brand-new sun damage, but they cannot eliminate established solar lentigines. Because true sunspots sit at the base of the epidermis, they require targeted light, laser, or chemical energies to break apart the concentrated melanin structure completely.
Noticeably Natural Results
How Can I Prevent New Sunspots from Forming This Summer?
While we can correct existing damage, prevention is key to maintaining your results. Protecting your skin in Southern California requires a dedicated routine:
- Use Broad-Spectrum SPF 30+ Daily: Apply it every single morning, even if it is overcast or you are just driving (UV rays penetrate car windows).
- Reapply Every 2 Hours: If you are outdoors or sweating, reapplication is non-negotiable.
- Incorporate an Antioxidant Serum: Apply a Vitamin C serum under your sunscreen every morning. It neutralizes the free radicals generated by UV light, boosting your defense against UV-induced pigment.
- Wear Protective Clothing: Wide-brimmed hats and UV-blocking sunglasses provide critical physical shade for vulnerable facial skin.
Ready to Reset Your Skin?
If you are tired of trying to conceal sunspots with heavy makeup and are ready to restore a radiant, even, and youthful complexion, we are here to help.
Schedule your consultation with the experts at Ali Sajjadian, MD today by calling (949) 515-0550 or completing our contact form online.