Sunspots

Sunspots are often wrongly termed age spots. They are not usually caused by age, but by cumulative sun and other UV exposure. They typically occur on sun-exposed areas like the face, hands, arms, neck and décolleté. Sunspots are not dangerous and if they don’t disturb they can be left alone.

Removal of sunspots

If a sunspot removal for cosmetic reasons is desired, a laser or IPL treatment is the best option as it has the shortest social down-time and the best cosmetic result. Both methods give good results. They are better than cryosurgery. Sunspots that have been removed are gone for good. To prevent new spots from developing you should be sun-smart.

To treat individual sunspots we use a Neodymium YAG Laser. For larger areas like the face an IPL treatment might be a better option.

In both cases, the laser light is absorbed by the pigment of the spots and transformed into heat, which fragments the pigment and is then eliminated by special cells in our skin.

The treatment

The treatment is performed with or without local anaesthetic cream or cold packs. After the treatment there is a burning sensation on the treated areas for a couple of hours.

Side effects and other information

7 – 10 days after the treatment the sunspots will turn dark and then  ‘fall off’. After that the areas of the spots will be reddish, typically for some 2 – 4 weeks. It is very important that during this time they are not exposed to UV light. This explains why the preferable time for treatment is in the winter period. Also, the result improves when at the time of treatment there has been no sun exposure for some 4 weeks. It is rather rare that more than one laser treatment is necessary; this is in contrast to an IPL treatment, where we perform a series of 4 treatments in monthly intervals.