When a person gets older, it only makes sense that he or she starts experiencing various skin changes. These changes usually come in the form of fine lines and wrinkles, because the natural elasticity in the skin starts to deplete with age. However, there are other signs of skin damage that, although thought to be associated with aging, can also have a significant amount to do with too much sun exposure.
Take, for example, age spots. People often refer to them as being liver spots, but that is only because of their physical similarities to the color and shape of an actual liver. What age spots really are is a skin problem in which melanin builds upon itself because of continued sun damage.
What does this really mean? When a person is out in the sun for long periods of time and then gets a sunburn, that actually means that the uppermost layer of the skin has become damaged. After the sunburn has healed, freckles usually appear. This is because the skin, in an effort to protect itself, produces an excess amount of melanin. The more these freckles are exposed to the sun, the more age spots the person is likely to get.
There are several different things that a person can do in order to prevent against age spots. The first thing is to always wear an SPF to protect against sun damage. For older people who already have these skin irregularities, it is important for them to be checked by a dermatologist.
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