Sunspots on Skin Symptoms and Causes

Sunspots (also known as liver spots) are those little dark spots that can often be mistaken for freckles.

Incidence: Very Common
○ More than 3 million US cases per year
○ Lab tests may be required
○ Gets progressively worse with increasing total dose of UV.

Skin changes as you age. Change can occur both in pigment and texture. Sunspots (also known as liver spots) are those little dark spots that can often be mistaken for freckles. This skin damage occurs by exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. Sunspots usually appear in areas regularly exposed to sunlight like the face, hands, shoulders, and arms. Sunspots can appear on your scalp if you are bald. They tend to increase with age as the skin has a harder time repairing the damage from ultraviolet light. 11 minutes of sun exposure produces more damage than the skin can repair in 24 hours. Since most of the damage is caused by UVA, you can damage your skin even through windows.

Cause of sunspots: Sunspots are more common in people with fair skin and those older than 40. They are flat brown spots that develop on the skin after sun exposure (during which, UV radiation causes pigmented skin cells called melanocytes to multiply).