What are those strange, freckle-like spots that appear on the skin after sun bathing? You might be one of the millions of Americans over 40 years old who begin to develop 'age spots'. Keep reading in order to learn how to identify and get rid of these pesky skin pigmentations.

First off, concerns about sun spots are mostly cosmetic, because the majority of them are not a health threat. However, average person's eye cannot distinguish skin cancer from harmless dark spots. It is extremely important that you see a skin specialist in order to verify that none of your sun spots are cancerous.

It's easy to get confused about sun spots, age spots and liver spots because these terms are just different ways to refer to the same thing. No matter what you call them, sun spots cause the skin to appear years older than it really is, making it necessary to seek out ways to fade age spots and other skin renovation alternatives. In order to work towards treatment options, you need to be able to identify these markings.

Age spots, sun spots or liver spots are brownish blemishes that usually occur on the parts of the skin that are typically exposed to the sun. Age spots are not always brownish and will range in color, depending on one's skin tone and the level of sun exposure. Sun spots are essentially pigments in the skin that have been damaged by the sun, causing the skin to look aged and/or worn.

Just the facts about sun spot formation

Sun spots can result from just one instance of over-exposure to the sun. Hyper-pigmentation and spotting happen when over-exposure to the sun causes the skin's melanocytes - or cells located in the epidermis - to mismanage the body's melanin (pigment) production. Melanocytes are the skin cell components responsible for darkening the skin during and after sun bathing.

When your skin becomes over-exposed to the sun, melanocytes can malfunction and produce too much melanin pigment. The excessive amount of melanin leads to age spots and sometimes melasma.

Sun and age spots can thankfully be reduced or removed entirely through medical and cosmetic procedures or by using specially designed aging skin care products. People interested in skin renovation should investigate the different types of skin renovation programs available. The most common age spot remover methods are Microdermabrasion, Bleaching Creams, Laser Surgery and Chemical Peels.