Brown spots: how to prevent and get rid of them
Whether linked to age, excessive sun exposure, hormonal imbalances during pregnancy, or a consequence of acne, brown spots result from localized hyperpigmentation caused by a disruption in the production of melanin pigments by melanocytes. Very common, they are nonetheless bothersome, especially when located on the face.
Why do brown spots appear on the skin?
The primary cause of brown spots is the sun. During sun exposure, the skin activates its natural defense systems, including the production of melanin, the pigment responsible for tanning. However, when exposure is intense and repeated, without protection or with insufficient protection, this production can become unbalanced, leading to clusters of melanin that persist even after tanning. These are sunspots, also known as solar lentigines.
With age, these imbalances become more frequent and brown spots multiply: these are then called age spots or senescence spots. And this proliferation is all the more significant if one has had a lot of sun exposure before the age of 50.
Another form of pigmentation, well-known to new mothers as the "mask of pregnancy," is melasma. It is also caused by an overproduction of melanin, but this time it occurs in reaction to hormonal changes. Despite its name, it doesn't only affect pregnant women; it can also appear after taking birth control pills or undergoing hormone replacement therapy.
Finally, scars appear when skin, weakened by an injury or burn, is exposed to the sun without protection. The epidermis reacts even more strongly due to its fragility, and this excess melanin then forms brown spots all around the scar. This is the case, for example, with blemish-prone skin, which very often displays acne scars.
How to limit the appearance of brown spots?
If there was only one piece of advice to keep to avoid the appearance of brown spots, it would of course be to protect your skin from the sun, either by not exposing yourself at all, which is difficult to do when you know that simply walking in the street exposes us to UV rays, or by using sun protection daily, taking care to renew the application every 2 hours and focusing on antioxidants, both in our skincare routine and our diet.
If, despite all these precautions, spots do form, then it is time to use an anti-spot serum.
