May 2015
Many people develop brown spots like this on the hands. These are usually brown colored and often flat (but they can be slightly raised as well). These are commonly called age spots and liver spots, but the medical term is solar or senile lentigos. Personally, I like to call them "wisdom spots" because we get more of them the "wiser" that we get.
There are multiple treatment options, most aimed at removing that top most layer of skin where this darker pigment is without damaging the general pigment of your skin.
This is why chemical peels, bleaching creams, even lasers that superficially peel the skin or target this color can work to remove these spots. Here, I use a very simple method - liquid nitrogen. This is a very cold spray used commonly to treat precancers (actinic keratoses), superficial skin cancers, and warts.. growths that are superficial on the skin and which we try to remove from the surface of the skin. Essentially, liquid nitrogen induces localized frostbite in the area. The brown spot will get darker over the week following treatment, but should peel off and in one to two weeks.
Sunscreen is key to preventing these spots in the first place!
