2023-05-03 11:39:15
Are brown spots the beginning of the end? If some people assume them without problem, others especially want to get rid of them! But before making them go away, it’s also good to know how these lentigines arise. For all the explanations, we asked Marie Jourdan, dermatologist.
The text below is the transcript of the video inserted in this article.
An abnormality in cell renewal
These spots that we see appear with age on the face, on the back of the hands or on the neckline have several names. We call that sun spots, age spots, lentigines or senile lentigines. We still call it cemetery flowers. In fact, it’s all the same entity. These sunspots are a small anomaly at the time of cell renewal which is absolutely constant in our lives. Faced with the passage of time and our daily wear and tear, we fortunately have cell renewal.
And then, with age, there will be small anomalies that appear and in particular an accumulation of pigments on the surface of the skin and, at the start, this accumulation of pigments is so fine that you will just see that your complexion is a little cloudy. We look a little tired. Then, gradually, we will have a coalescence of this pigment which will really form spots, visible spots which we would like to get rid of.
Initially, this accumulation of pigments is so fine that we will just see that we have a slightly cloudy complexion. We look a little tired.
The sun, the 1st factor of aging
These sunspots, as their name suggests, they are closely linked to sun exposure. We always think of voluntary exposure, the one we get on the beach, on the deckchair, but in fact, all our lives, and especially if we have very fair skin and are sensitive to UV rays, we are exposed to this solar radiation. So, inevitably, there will be an acceleration of skin aging on photo-exposed areas, areas that are not protected by clothing. So that’s why we see in particular sun spots appear on the face, neckline and back of the hands.
If we want to prevent them, there is only one thing to do, and that is to protect ourselves from the sun. So first of all on a voluntary basis, not looking for the sun. And then, if we have to be in the sun or because it does us good morally, we will protect ourselves with sunscreen. In this case, this is what we say in dermatology: sunscreen is the best anti-wrinkle since it is really the cosmetic element which will block the radiation and which contributes so much to early ageing.
Hidden Responsible Pollution
There is another thing that is less talked about for sun spots is that it has been proven in studies that are only a few years old that they can be also related only to air pollution. We are able in vitro in laboratories to reproduce the pattern of a sunspot histologically in the skin, without UV radiation, only by exposing the skin to pollutants, to microparticles. So to prevent sun spots, not just protect yourself from the sun, but think about cleaning your face every night, especially if you live in an industrialized and polluted environment.
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