When you first begin noticing brown spots on your skin, it may not seem like such a big deal. Brown spots are simply a change in pigmentation and do not necessarily reflect a risk of skin cancer or any other health problems. However, as you age, you will notice that brown spots get darker and closer together. As skin spots compound it becomes more difficult for laser treatments to effectively penetrate the damaged skin. This means that repeated treatments may be required to see results, or you may have to live with some brown spots permanently.
What Causes Brown Spots?
There are several causes of brown spots on the skin. Sun exposure, certain medications, hormones, and simple genetics can all contribute to the brown spots, also called “sun spots.” A brown spot is an area of skin with either a higher number of pigment cells (called “melanocytes”) or an increased number of pigment molecules (called “melanin”) located within the melanocyte.
Some excess melanin rests in the epidermis – the top layer of your skin – and some resides deeper in the dermis. Because of this, brown spots are really a diverse group of skin issues and require different lightening treatments.
What is Laser Brown Spot Removal?
Lasers and Intense Pulsed Light devices remove brown spots on your face and patches from the skin by selectively targeting the melanin and melanocyte, leaving other skin cells intact. This is why laser brown spot removal is the safest and most effective treatment choice for removing this type of skin damage from the body.
Lasers have dramatically advanced the way we treat skin issues, and certain lasers have been designed to just remove brown spots. The skin treatment for brown spots is a quick office-based procedure, requires no anesthesia, and usually takes 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the size, color, and depth of the spot, as well as the number of spots to be treated.
*All patients are unique and individual results may vary.
What are the Benefits of Brown Spot Removal?
Laser brown spot removal treatments are beneficial in the following ways:
- Improve appearance of aging (age spots) or sun damaged skin
- They smooth the skin and reduce pore size
- Improve skin tone and tightness
- Reduce redness, flushing or Rosacea
- Minimal recovery time
Am I A Candidate for Laser Brown Spot Removal?
Ideal candidates for laser brown spot removal include:
- People with early aging of the skin or visible sun damage
- People who suffer from Rosacea and experience flushing and redness of their skin
- People who don’t want to take time off to heal from laser resurfacing or chemical peels
- Active people who want to improve their skin, but do not want to interfere with social or outdoor activities
When To Remove Brown Spots
While there is no medical imperative to have dark spots removed, many people want brown spots on their skin to go away to preserve their skin tone. The best time to begin treatment is when you start noticing that the dark spots are affecting the appearance of your skin and beginning to build up. Using a laser for brown spots during the early stages will maximize your results and give you more time to protect your skin from further sun damage.
You will need to speak to a laser treatment specialist who can assess your dark spots and determine whether or not they are suitable for laser treatment. Since the laser is absorbed by the dark spots and does not tend to penetrate the lighter skin, it is possible that some of your spots may be too light for treatment at first.
If you’ve begun noticing brown spots on your face, hands or shoulders, you probably already know that you want to seek treatment in the near future. The sooner you undergo a laser treatment, the better your results are likely to be. If you put off treatment for too long, you may find that a single laser treatment is not enough to fully remove the appearance of spots.
To learn more about whether or not your skin is ready for brown spot removal, contact the Miami Center for Plastic Surgery today. Our doctors are board certified and are here to assess your brown spots and set you up with a treatment plan right away.
