Skin pigmentation. Fighting pigment spots.

What are age spots?

Spots with increased pigmentation can be from birth or acquired during life. Their hue varies between different shades of brown. Such defects can form due to the aging of the skin, with various hormonal disorders, and due to exposure to insolation.

In addition, spots form during the period of using certain medications and taking any cosmetic preparations. This flaw is considered to be a cosmetic defect; in the places where they form, the skin will become dry and rough, blood vessels may appear and wrinkles may form. You need to learn to distinguish pigmented spots from malignant formations.

It has been established that 5 pigments are responsible for coloring - melanin, carotene, melanoid, oxyhemoglobin, hemoglobin. If the concentration of the listed pigments fails or due to the absence of any of them, spots with increased pigmentation form on the patient’s epidermis.

Melanin takes part in skin coloring and becomes a definite obstacle to sunlight. In the process of accumulation of this pigment in a significant amount on the skin, spots with increased pigmentation appear in one place or another.

Factors contributing to the formation of age spots

UV exposure
Changes in hormonal levels (during adolescence, during pregnancy and lactation, during menopause)
Diseases of the endocrine or digestive system
Diseases of toxin-removing organs
Taking a number of medications, including corticosteroids, oral contraceptives
Vitamin deficiency, iron deficiency, magnesium deficiency
Inflammatory and infectious dermatoses
Age-related skin changes
Hereditary predisposition
Skin injury
Improper skin care, frequent use of peelings and abrasives

Some factors cause a local change in the number of melanocytes, while others disrupt the production and subsequent distribution of melanin. Sometimes hyperpigmentation remains on the skin even after the provoking factor has been eliminated. And to remove it, external influence will be required.

Kinds

Spots with increased pigmentation on the body often become a provoking factor in the formation of psychological complexes and loss of self-confidence.

However, at the moment in medicine there are a large number of effective methods for treating spots with increased pigmentation, which help restore the original condition of the skin and gain self-confidence. There are several main types of stains.

Freckles

Freckles are extremely popular among patients with fair skin tones. Their formation is associated with excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation, which results in the accumulation of melanin in specific places of the epidermis. Depending on the time of year, the intensity of coloring may vary.

They are marked on the face, ears, arms and chest. The size of such spots, the degree of color and the total number range from single light formations the size of a dot to significant brown freckles in large numbers.

The defect does not pose a threat to human health, but can become a factor in psychological problems. In such a situation, pigmentation must be bleached in stationary conditions.

Age spots

Lentigines are pigment spots that appear in people in old age. Age spots generally form in areas exposed to strong ultraviolet radiation.

In certain situations, lentigines appear in place of freckles. The main area of concentration of this defect is the skin of the face, hand and forearm, and upper back. Since the initial spots appear after reaching 40 years of age, they are considered an obvious cosmetic defect.

In women during menopause, due to hormonal imbalance, the intensity of lentigines and their number tend to increase. Stains are difficult to disguise using cosmetics.

Chemical and mechanical procedures that are aimed at exfoliating the skin help reduce their intensity. The use of aromatic retinoids helps to heal skin cells and normalize their functioning.

Large pigment spots

Large pigmented spots (chloasma or melasma) appear on the skin of the face mainly in women at a young age.

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They have irregular contours and tend to merge, forming one large formation of an unusual shape. The process partly spreads to the skin of the neck and ears, but the shoulders and chest are not actually affected.

Ultraviolet irradiation can aggravate the general condition of the patient, since after prolonged exposure to the sun an increase in the number of spots is noted. The main factor in the formation of chloasma is hormonal imbalance (menstruation, pregnancy and breastfeeding, menopause, the use of oral contraception and the use of various hormonal drugs).

Birthmarks

Nevi are birthmarks of pigmentation that appear as small, defined hyperpigmented areas, which in certain situations are a feature rather than a cosmetic defect.

The formation of nevi is actually the same as the appearance of any other spots. The basis is the uneven distribution of melanin.

Everyone has a small number of congenital nevi, but when there are too many of them or they have a tendency to grow and enlarge, this will become one of the reasons for the probable malignancy of the neoplasm.

Skin hypopigmentation

Albinism and vitiligo are considered rare pathological processes of the skin, the origin of which is poorly understood, so such spots are difficult to treat.

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People who completely or partially lack melanocytes, or have conditions where melanocytes do not produce melanin, are prohibited from being exposed to ultraviolet rays.

Pigment spots with no coloration must be protected from exposure to sunlight. Burns of hypopigmented pigment spots are usually quite deep, and the constant influence of ultraviolet radiation on unprotected areas of the skin can cause cancer.

Reasons for appearance

Most often, this is the effect of ultraviolet light on melanocytes. In response, they form a brown pigment - melanin, which protects the DNA of cells from mutations. That's why fair skin, which contains less of it, is more at risk of developing cancer and needs careful sun protection. The skin has an accumulative property in relation to ultraviolet radiation. Over the years, the prevalence of age spots increases, and the color becomes more saturated. Almost all white-skinned people over 50 have several patches of hyperpigmentation.

The cause may be a change in the hormonal balance in the body due to an excess of sex hormones, pregnancy, thyroid hormones, taking oral contraceptives, systemic steroids, amidopyrine, treatment with glucocorticoids, silver nitrates.

Pigment spots can appear as a result of trauma to the skin during home whitening, wart removal and cosmetic procedures for skin rejuvenation. Secondary skin changes after pityriasis versicolor, pityriasis alba, pyoderma and neurodermatitis. In men, pigmentation appears in response to the abuse of foods rich in cholesterol.

When working with carbon compounds, stains may appear on the hands, neck and face. This is a sign of chronic poisoning of the body. In this case, you should immediately stop contact with these substances and carry out detoxification therapy.

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Causes

Causes of pigmented spots:

Hereditary factor.
Ultraviolet irradiation.
Hormonal imbalance.
The result of injuries. In such places, melanin is not produced and it is virtually impossible to remove such defects.
Long-term use of hormonal drugs.
Long-term use of medications .
Vitiligo.

If such spots appear, you should consult a doctor for advice.

What it is?

The cause of pigmentation is melanin. This is one of the pigments responsible for the formation of skin color and possible changes in its color, protection from ultraviolet radiation. Uneven distribution provokes the accumulation of coloring pigment in one place, darkening the skin color. The shade varies from pale, barely noticeable, to dark brown. You definitely don't have to worry about freckles and birthmarks on your body.

The shape and size of such spots vary. There are oval, round, elongated with torn edges. A common shape is an oval with jagged edges. The appearance of age spots on the face is a factor that accompanies the aging of human skin. It is important to note that pigmentation often indicates a malignant nature and the development of melanoma. The situation when the number of such formations increases sharply, without any prerequisites, deserves special attention.

Symptoms

The main signs of such a cosmetic defect are:

flat painted areas of brown, gray, red, black shades;
oval shape;
group arrangement;
withering of the skin;
dry skin;
deep wrinkles;
roughening of the skin.

Pigmented spots must be differentiated from, for example, flat nevi, papillomas, and lentigo maligna.

Causes of age spots on the face

Cosmetologists call pigmented areas of the skin that have darkened due to excess melanin production. It has been scientifically proven that pigment spots can be located in the epidermis, dermis and at their border. The result of the correction depends on the depth of pigmentation: the deeper and the larger the accumulation of melanin, the more difficult it is to get rid of it.

Age spots can be congenital, acquired or age-related. Patients turn to cosmetologists or dermatologists with such types of hyperpigmentation as freckles, lentigo, melasma, and clinical manifestations of photodamage.

Freckles most often appear in people with fair skin and blond or red hair © iStock

“ Freckles (ephelides) are small spots, mostly round in shape, uniform in color, 1–2 mm in diameter,” says Karine Vardanyan, SkinCeuticals brand expert, dermatovenerologist and head of the allergology department at the European Medical Center clinic. “Most often, freckles occur in blond, brown-haired and red-haired people on open areas of the skin under the active influence of solar radiation.”

The more intense the ultraviolet light, the darker the freckles. Without exposure to the sun, they turn pale, and in winter they may disappear altogether.

Solar lentigo is oval-shaped pigment spots measuring 2–20 mm. They are most often located on the face and hands, but can also appear on the torso. The color of the spots is mostly uniform, the pigmentation is persistent and does not disappear on its own.

How to remove

Eliminating pigmentation spots is an extremely pressing issue, in particular for women. Before starting self-therapy, you should find out the recommendations of a dermatologist and cosmetologist.

It is possible that the doctor will recommend that the woman visit an endocrinologist or oncologist. Often the appearance of age spots occurs due to hormonal imbalance within the body. If you do not remove it, then you will not be able to eliminate age spots.

Masks, face cream

By applying a mask, peeling or cream with natural plant acids to the affected area, it is possible to achieve a whitening effect. Glycolic preparations will also be useful, exfoliating the epidermis, renewing the skin, eliminating old fragments.

Effect that can be achieved:

The skin will become softer, gain firmness and elasticity.
The pores will shrink.
The relief will become smoother.
The shade will be more even.

Using such means, it is possible to achieve a positive effect in treatment.

Laser removal of age spots on the face

It is possible to eliminate pigment spots through laser therapy. For these purposes, a diode laser with different attachments is used.

The spot is treated using the tip of a device that delivers a laser beam. During the manipulation period, the patient experiences a certain tingling of the skin.

To avoid burns on the skin, it is cooled using a second nozzle. At the end of the procedure, a special balm is applied to restore the affected areas.

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In addition, additional skin care will be needed over the next few days. First of all, you need to apply sun cream to your skin.

Advantages of laser removal:

integrity .
Parallel implementation of other cosmetic procedures.
Stimulates the production of collagen by the skin .
tightening .
Acne scars
Quick results.

Laser therapy is considered the most effective method for eliminating this cosmetic defect.

Cryotherapy

Cryotherapy of pigmented spots is an effective way to remove affected areas, nevi, and papillomas from the skin through the use of liquid nitrogen. The manipulation is carried out in this way: liquid nitrogen is applied to the damaged area, the defect is frozen, a blister is formed, which begins to peel off over time.

At the same time, old cells and soft tissues that require regeneration die off. The process is short and lasts a matter of seconds.

The advantages of this treatment:

Spotlessly clean skin.
Removing deep stains.
Speed of the procedure.

After manipulation, the skin needs special care, which the specialist must inform the patient about.

Treatment of age spots

Treatment of hyperpigmentation is based on the principles of taking into account the causes and mechanism of their occurrence. The methods and preparations used are aimed at:

Reducing melanin synthesis using mesotherapy and phonophoresis (with vitamin preparations, tyrosinase inhibitors, etc.) and depigmenting agents.
The use of exfoliating procedures - cryopilling, chemical and acid peels, laser resurfacing and microdermabrasion.
Selective photothermolysis, including laser (Fraxel, Palomar lasers), light pulse, ELOS and phototherapy.

Also, treatment of pigmentation on the face is carried out with external preparations such as:

inhibiting the effect of tyrosinase - creams and gels with vitamin “E”, kojic acid, arbutin, licorice extract; the main drug hydroquinone, used previously, is currently prohibited in Russia and most foreign countries due to its toxicity;
peelings using inorganic (salicylic, trichloroacetic) and organic (lactic, alpha-hydroxylic) acids;
others - with ascorbic and retinoic, azelanic, glycolic acids, soy milk, etc., but their effectiveness is less than hardware methods.

In order to prevent the appearance of age spots or increase the intensity of color, as well as during their treatment, photoprotective products containing ultraviolet filters (with an SPF factor of at least 50) are used - sprays, emulsions and creams from various manufacturers.

Methods for getting rid of pigmented skin defects:

Laser exposure

For the purpose of selective photothermolysis, mainly carbon dioxide, erbium, alexandrite, neodymium, ruby, copper vapor or dye lasers are used. If the principle of operation of a CO2 laser is to evaporate tissues containing melanin, then the lightening effect of other types is to destroy and disperse the pigment into particles (selective photothermolysis), which are then removed by macrophages through the lymphatic system. Laser can be used to remove age spots on the face and other parts of the body.

Each type of laser is designed for a specific type and depth of local hypermelanosis. Recently, high-pulse IPL therapy has become very popular. With these treatment methods it is possible to remove defects relatively quickly and achieve excellent results.

However they are very expensive. In addition, laser removal of pigment spots can cause various complications - repeated, even more pronounced hyperpigmentation, hypopigmentation in the form of white spots, scars. In ordinary beauty salons, mechanical (dermabrasion and, much less frequently, cryodestruction) and chemical peelings followed by bleaching are mainly used.

Laser removal of pigment spots

Peeling

Chemical peels are carried out using retinol and its derivatives, trichloroacetic acid, as well as fruit alpha-hydroxy acids - citric, kojic, malic, tartaric, glycolic, lactic, almond. Fruit acids also have a regenerating effect.

To achieve a depigmenting effect, drugs are used whose main components are hydroquinone (rarely used due to toxicity), ricinol, arbutin, salicylic, retinoic, kojic, azelaic acid, ascorbic acid in the form of magnesium ascorbyl-2-phosphate.

In addition, these substances have mild exfoliating, and some of them have antioxidant effects. Chemical peeling is often combined with mesotherapy procedures to introduce ascorbic, glycolic acids and other drugs.

We recommend reading an article about what mesotherapy is.

Application of peeling

Cosmetical tools

In everyday practice, ointment, gel, cream, including modern exfoliating and whitening agents, as well as extracts with active ingredients of bearberry and other herbal remedies that have a whitening effect, are used to remove age spots. For mild hyperpigmentation (freckles, some types of age spots), a mask with kefir, lemon or cucumber juice, and whey is used at home.

Among the ready-made cosmetics, the following preparations are popular:

Neoton cream intended for daytime use. It contains mineral sun protection filters, salicylic, ascorbic and glycolic acids, which have a whitening and gentle exfoliating effect. Neoton serum for intensive whitening includes a complex of powerful tyrosinase inhibitors.
Vichy cream for age spots has a combined effect - it protects against the effects of ultraviolet rays, thanks to the filters it contains, destroys melanin in hyperpigmented areas, and promotes the growth of epithelial cells with normal pigment content.
Achromin is a cream that previously contained hydroquinone, but due to the toxic effect it was replaced with licorice root extract, which has a pronounced whitening effect. In addition, the cream contains lactic acid and ultraviolet protective filters.
Skinoren (cream and gel), containing azelaic acid as an active component. The drugs have not only depigmenting, exfoliating and anti-inflammatory effects, but also antibacterial effects.
Whitening day cream Biocon. Its composition includes such main components as extracts of bearberry, white lily and licorice root, kojic, ascorbic and lactic acids, which block melanin synthesis at two levels, and ultraviolet filters.

Thus, pigment spots differ from each other in their causes and mechanisms of development. In order to obtain the maximum possible effect from the treatment and eliminate the possibility of causing even greater harm, the dermatocosmetologist must have a good understanding of the mechanism of action of the drugs and products used, as well as those processes that may be affected in each individual case.

Do you have age spots and how do you fight them? Write your opinion in the comments, share your experience. If you liked the article, we advise you to bookmark it so as not to forget it or share it with friends on social networks.

Prevention

It is easier to prevent various skin defects than to deal with them later. It is possible to avoid pigmentation of the dermis by balancing your diet and following skin care rules.

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Such measures that prevent pigmentation include:

ensuring proper intake of vitamin C and nicotinic acid (vitamin PP) into the human body with foods and as medicines - daily dosage of up to 1.5 g and 0.03 g;
the use of traditional medicine in order to preserve the white tint of the skin - milk or whey, wiping the skin of the face with lemon and parsley juice before applying a nourishing cream, etc.;
use of sunscreen cosmetics for the face with a high protection factor against ultraviolet radiation;
the use of sunscreen for hands, which must be used after each wash, as well as various preparations for whitening and exfoliation, which can soften dull or dry skin of the hands.

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By following the above instructions, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of such unpleasant cosmetic defects.

The appearance of age spots is directly related to the condition of the skin and only cosmetic products are used to counteract them. Usually, such methods are not enough and such a cosmetic defect either does not disappear, or fades somewhat, or begins to progress steadily.

If pigmentation spots or other changes in skin color occur, you should contact a specialist. For these purposes, it is necessary to establish the root cause of the spots; consultation with a gynecologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, therapist or other specialized doctor may be required.

How to get rid of age spots at home?

Helps to get rid of age spots:

Castor oil. Although it does not have the whitening properties of lemon, it is great for improving skin texture.
Apple vinegar. In order to get rid of age spots, apple cider vinegar is taken orally. It will be no less effective externally if you combine it with chopped onions - five to six months of systematic use of such a pulp can work real miracles!

Lemon juice. This highly effective whitening product will quickly help you say goodbye to fairly annoying age spots. If you wipe the stains that have formed with it twice a day, then after a few months not a trace will remain of them.
Vitamin E. An oil solution of vitamin E is applied directly to age spots or simply taken this vitamin in the form of a wide variety of nutritional supplements.
Aloe vera. The healing properties of this miraculous plant greatly help to even out the complexion, due to which age spots gradually become less and less noticeable.
Cottage cheese. The following cottage cheese mask will be especially good: combine a tablespoon of cottage cheese with one drop of hydrogen peroxide and a similar amount of ammonia, and then apply the resulting mixture to the face and leave for a quarter of an hour.

As for getting rid of age spots, in this case home remedies can only play an additional role; the main way to eliminate them should be procedures such as deep chemical peeling, cryotherapy, photorejuvenation and laser rejuvenation.