Apart from the sun being thought of as the main cause of liver spots, there might be other factors that cause the condition. Liver spots occur as a result of uneven hyperpigmentation of the skin which leads to dark brown spots. The spots are most prevalent among adults who are older than 40 years. The condition could therefore be as a result of aging of the skin. Another piece of evidence that gives a clue as to the exact cause of the condition is that liver spots do not occur in areas that are usually covered by clothing. This indicates that exposure of skin to the sun is partly to blame. There is still some confusion about the main cause of the condition.
Liver spots are basically areas of the skin that have more pigmentation than others. Due to the nature of the condition, it is clear that any method used to lighten skin tone can be effectively used to remove the spots. The main question that people have to ask before treating the spots is whether to get treated in a hospital or whether to do it at home.
There are ways in which the condition can be treated at home as well as medical procedures. Medical procedures have the advantage of putting a person under the watchful supervision of professionals. This reduces chances of complications occurring.
Medical procedures to remove liver spots include cryotherapy, laser removal, and dermabrasion. These methods all require some healing time and pose a risk of scarring. They are very reliable in removing livers spots.
Cryotherapy is a method where a specialist applies liquid nitrogen directly on liver spots. This process is painless and kills the cells on the upper layer of the skin. This causes the cells that are darker than surrounding cells to be removed when the top layer of skin is shed, effectively clearing liver spots.
Laser removal is conducted with a high intensity beam of light and it vaporizes the cells of the outer layer of skin. Repetitive treatments allow deeper removal of skin which evens out the skin tone. People have fears that laser treatments could cause cancer but the fears are completely unfounded. Lasers used in medical procedures have been thoroughly tested to ensure that they don’t produce ionizing radiation. This is the harmful wavelength of light that can lead to cancer.
Treatments that can be used to remove age spots at home include lightening creams and chemical peels. These methods take more time to show results compared to medical procedures.