Dark spots

Dark spots are caused by high production of melanin in one area of the skin; melanin is a chemical in your body that is responsible for your skin color. These dark spots are called hyper-pigmentation. If you think that dark spots are permanent, good news, they are not; it just takes longer time for some to fade away than others and with the help of the ideas below, you can make the fading process much faster. Unlike scars that are permanent without treatment, dark spots take three to six months to fade away on their own without treatment; scars occur when the normal skin tissues are destroyed by injury from an accident and then replaced by the body with fibrous tissues.

Determine the cause

Determining the cause of a problem is the first step in solving the problem, it makes the solution easier and straight forward, it shows you what you have to do in order to solve the problem and prevent more from occurring. You have to determine the cause of your dark spots in order to get rid of them; this will guide you in removing them and also stopping new ones from surfacing.

A lot of factors are responsible for the formation of dark spots on our body; the dark spots that they can cause are classified into three types:

Lentigines are hyper-pigmentation in our body caused by exposure from the ultra-violet rays of the sun; the dark spot appears scattered on our body with no pattern.

Post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation (PIH) is another type which can be caused by burns, acne, psoriasis and certain skin care treatments; it is as a result of trauma to the skin.

Melasma is the last type of dark spots and it is caused by hormonal fluctuation or thyroid dysfunction; melasma can occur in women during pregnancy or menopause, i.e. when their hormones are in flux.

Getting rid of dark spots

You can easily get rid of some dark spots while others are really hard to remove; this depends on how and when the spots appeared. There are different methods of getting rid of dark spots which include:

Natural treatments

Lemon juice has proven highly effective in removing dark spots, it contains Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) which slough off the top layer of your skin and thereby removing the dark spot from the surface. Firstly rub the fresh juice on the affected area of your skin, wait until it dries up and wash it off with water. It might take up to two weeks of daily application before your dark spots clear up depending on the size of the spot and the nature of your body.

Rubbing aloe vera on the affected area is another natural way of removing dark spots, aloe vera has been used for treating various skin problems over many years; it has a healing property that evens out your skin tone.

Medical treatments

If you want to get rid of dark spots faster, medical treatments are the best way to go; common treatments include laser therapy, chemical peel, and microdermabrasion. Laser therapy is a dark spot treatment which uses quick pulses of light to destroy the melanin that causes dark spots in the pigmented areas; it is expensive but really effective. Chemical peel and microdermabrasion are also used to treat dark spots by removing the top layer of the skin so that new and fresh ones will grow under it; chemical peel uses acid to remove the top skin while microdermabrasion is done by using very fine crystals to scrap off the affected areas.

Dark Spot

Formation of black spot on your skin in sometimes termed as hyper-pigmentation. Dark spots shows on your body when there is higher production of melanin in one area of the skin; melanin is the chemical that gives human skin its color.

If you are looking for a way to get rid of your dark spots, you are in a right place. You don’t have to hide your skin because of dark spot, you don’t need to add heavy makeup to cover your face or wear extra-long clothes just to cover the affected area of your body; all those days of feeling uncomfortable in your own skin are finally over.

Figure Out the Cause of your Dark Spots

There are different types of dark spots which are caused by a number of different factors and to get rid of yours, you have to figure out what caused them. Some of these factors include extreme sun exposure, lack of sleep, too much stress, pregnancy, hormonal fluctuations, vitamin deficiencies and side effect of some certain medications that you are using. Knowing what caused yours will help you in guiding yourself from further damage and the best ways to get rid of the dark spots.

How to Get Rid of Dark Spots

There are various ways in getting rid of dark spots on your body ranging from exfoliation to home remedies and laser treatment for extreme cases.

Exfoliation

If the dark spots appeared on your skin about two months ago, you can easily get rid of it by removing the top layer of your skin. Exfoliation is the process of bringing new skin to the surface by removing the top layer of the skin.

There are a lot of ways to remove the top layer of the skin, this include chemical peel; using acid treatment. No, it’s not as painful as it seems, the acid will only remove the top layer of dead skin cells including the dark spot and new cells will grow to replace them. Acid treatment can be done with alpha hydroxy acids, beta hydroxy acids or retinoids.

Microdermabrasion is another process of removing top skin layers; it is done by using very fine crystals to scrap off the dark spots off your skin. This type of treatment should be done once in a month since your skin needs time to heal and it should be done by an experienced practitioner in order for you to get good result.

Home Remedies

Rub your skin with citrus since citrus fruits contain abundant amounts of Vitamin C which slough off the top skin layer without causing damage, the most commonly used citrus fruit is lemon. The juice of the lemon is used for cleaning, and this also includes cleaning your body to get fresher look. To get rid of dark spots using lemon juice, rub the fresh juice on the affected area of your skin using a cotton ball, allow it to dry up and then wash it off with water. It might take up to two weeks of daily application before your dark spots clear up depending on the size of the spot and the nature of your body. This process has proven to work perfectly for getting rid of dark spots in many cases but if you got open sores around the area of the dark spot, it is best to avoid the treatment and you should also avoid going out into the sun after using it in order to guide your skin against sun allergy. Other home remedies include red onion, aloe vera, and papaya fruit.

Laser Treatment

If the dark spots have been on your skin for a long time, the dark spots would not only be on the outmost skin but also deep within the skin. The best method to get rid of this one is through laser treatment, it is painful and expensive but extremely effective. Laser treatment uses quick pulses of light to destroy dark-spot causing melanin by vaporizing the pigmented areas.

Are Dark Spots Permanent?