What are freckles?

Freckles are small brown spots on your skin, often in areas that get sun exposure. In most cases, freckles are harmless. They form as a result of overproduction of melanin, which is responsible for skin and hair color (pigmentation). Overall, freckles come from ultraviolet (UV) radiation stimulation.

There are two categories of freckles: ephelides and solar lentigines. Ephelides are the common type most people think of as freckles. Solar lentigines are dark patches of skin that develop during adulthood. This includes freckles, aging spots, and sunspots. The two types of freckles can look similar but differ in other ways such as their development.

How do you get freckles?

Ephelides: These freckles form as a result of sun exposure and sunburns. They can appear on anyone who doesn’t protect themselves from UV rays. They show up on your face, the back of your hands, and upper body. This type tends to be most common amongst people with lighter skin tones and hair color. People of Caucasian and Asian descent are more prone to ephelides.

Solar letigines: Like ephelides, this type tends to appear in Caucasians and adults over 40 years old.

What increases your chance for freckles?

The credit for freckles goes to both the natural environment and genetics. Your risk for burning can increase the incidence of freckles.
From the research of 523 middle-aged French women, two elements predicted the presence of freckles: frequent sunburns and a gene known as MC1R, which provides instructions for making melanin. But the gene doesn’t affect all individuals the same way. There are two type of melanin: pheomelanin and eumelanin.

People whose skin produces pheomalanin aren’t protected from UV radiation and tend to have:

• red or blonde hair
• light skin
• freckles
• skin that tans poorly

People with more eumelanin tend to be protected from skin damage by UV and have:

• brown or black hair
• darker skin
• skin that tans easily

Solar lentigines

For solar lentigines, the French study also found that several different factors increased the likelihood, including:

• dark skin
• the capacity to tan
• a history of freckles
• sun exposure
• hormone treatment, such as oral birth control

Why freckles appear?

Freckles are tan or light brown spots on your skin. They’re made of clusters of skin cells that contain the pigment melanin. Unlike moles, which are raised, freckles are flat. Freckles aren’t painful or harmful.

No one is born with freckles, even though they may be genetic. They’re triggered by sun exposure. If you have freckles and want to get rid of them, here are seven ways to consider

Treatments Options available for Freckles

1. Sunscreen

Sunscreen won’t get rid of existing freckles, but it helps prevent new ones. You should wear sunscreen year-round, even when it’s cloudy.
The American Academy of Dermatology offers these tips:

• Sunscreen should have an SPF of 30 or higher.
• Apply sunscreen to bare skin at least 15 minutes before going outdoors.
• Reapply sunscreen every two hours, and immediately after swimming or excessive sweating.

2. Laser treatment

Laser treatment uses pulses of focused, intense light to target damaged areas of skin. There are different types of lasers. According to a 2015 study, the 1064 Q-Switched Nd YAG laser is effective for treating freckles. Study results showed treatment with this laser lightened more than 50 percent of freckles in 62 percent of participants.
Laser treatment is generally safe. The risk of scarring is low. However, other side effects may occur, including:

• itching
• swelling
• redness
• crustiness
• peeling
• infection
• changes in skin color

If you have a history of oral herpes, you may need to take an antiviral medication before undergoing laser treatment. That’s because the laser can stimulate a flare-up of herpes around your mouth.

Your healthcare provider may prescribe other medications or creams before the procedure. They may also recommend avoiding certain medications or products before the procedure. Let your doctor know about any medications or creams you’re using.

It may take up to two weeks to recover from laser treatment. Multiple sessions are usually needed to achieve desired results.

What are the most effective freckle removal treatment options?

To effectively treat freckles, we offer a few laser procedures. After one to two laser sessions, most patients are able to remove their freckles.

1. Fraxel laser freckle removal treatment fires microscopic columns of laser energy into the skin. The Fraxel laser spares the skin between the columns and allows effective treatment of freckles with less risk and downtime. Compared to non-fractional lasers, fractional lasers can treat more skin types. With less risk of pigmentation problems post-treatment, the Fraxel laser effectively treat darker olive skins types

2.  Q-switched ruby laser is highly attracted to melanin. Freckles that absorb this laser energy usually have the melanin in the freckle destroyed. The Q-switched laser has very short pulses of laser energy with each pulse only lasts a few nanoseconds. Over this short period of time, the high-energy production levels also have a photo-acoustic effect on the melanin in the freckles. This literally shatters the pigment particles.

Q-switched laser can be used to treat larger areas of freckles on the body.
We use the Q-Switched laser on Asian, darker and indian skins.

What happens when freckles are removed with laser treatment?

Before we start our laser treatment to remove freckles we anaesthetise the area we’re about to treat with numbing cream. This will reduce discomfort from the freckle removal laser treatment.

Straight after the freckle removal laser treatment, your freckles will appear darker than normal. The surrounding treatment area will also appear red and may swell.

From one to two weeks after the laser freckle removal treatment, the freckles get darker, scab and then peel off. We usually space freckle removal treatment at least one month apart. Most of our patients only need one to two sessions – in some cases, more treatments for freckle removal may be required