Kiss Your Sunspots Goodbye with a Facial Pigment Clearance Treatment

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Sunspots and age spots can make you look a lot older than you are — and certainly a lot older than you feel. Unfortunately, no matter how well you care for your skin, there’s a really good chance you’re going to get at least a few sunspots as you age, especially if you have a fair complexion. Even a small amount of sun exposure can end up causing sunspots, and if your family members have a lot of sunspots, there’s a good chance you’ll develop them too.

There are many options when it comes to treating sunspots, but most either contain hash chemicals or cause a lot of discomfort. At Atmosphere Med Spa, we help our patients fade and eliminate sunspots with a state-of-the-art laser procedure called the ICONTMlaser. If you’ve got sunspots you’d like to get rid of, here’s how the ICON laser can help.

What causes sunspots?

Also called age spots and liver spots, sunspots are areas of overactive melanin or skin pigments. Melanin is what gives our skin its color. When an area of skin is exposed to the sun over and over again, tiny fragments of melanin can start to clump together, forming the dark spots we call sunspots.

Sunspots are more likely to form on the face, the shoulders and upper back, the upper chest, and the hands — areas that spend a lot of time in the sun. Tanning beds and sun lamps can also cause sunspots to appear. While they’re not cancerous or harmful, they areunattractive — and they do make you look older.

How the ICONTM laser system gets rid of sunspots

The ICONTM laser system uses very precise amounts of laser energy to emit highly-focused beams to the specific areas you want treated. As the laser energy is emitted from the ICON'sTM special handheld device, it’s absorbed by the pigments in your skin. Darker pigments absorb more energy, which makes it easier to ensure the age spots are treated while the surrounding tissue is left unaffected.

As the pigmented sunspots are targeted, the laser heat works to break apart the pigments into very tiny, microscopic fragments. During the days and weeks after your treatment, your body will carry away those tiny fragments and dispose of them naturally, leaving you with clearer, more youthful-looking skin. The laser also promotes collagen development and natural healing in the area, so your skin looks healthy and clear.

ICONTM uses a special sensing technology called SkintelTM, which is designed to actually read and measure the amount of melanin in your skin. SkintelTM is the only FDA-cleared melanin reader on the market. When used prior to an ICONTM pigment clearance treatment like a sunspot treatment, the SkintelTM technology determines the density of the melanin pigments in the treatment area. By determining the amount of melanin in your skin and its density, your treatment can be customized specifically to your skin and your needs, optimizing your results while avoiding overheating or overtreatment.

ICONTM facial pigment clearance: What to expect

The ICONTM laser can be used to target those tiny sunspots, or it can be used over a larger area to improve your entire complexion. Prior to your treatment, a topical numbing agent will be applied to your skin to keep you comfortable. Then, the applicator is passed over the treatment zone, emitting short bursts of laser energy. Most treatments are relatively brief, with the duration varying based on the size of the area that’s being treated.

After your treatment, you’ll be able to go back to your regular routines without any downtime, but you will need to avoid sun exposure while your skin is healing. It’s common to have some mild redness, tenderness and swelling during the initial stages of healing.

Learn how a pigment clearance treatment can work for you

Sunspots are relatively common, especially as we age, but that doesn’t mean you have to live with them. The ICONTM laser makes it easy to fade away those sunspots, leaving your skin clearer and more attractive. To learn more about facial pigment clearance treatments with the ICONTM system, book an appointment online today.