I would like a skin treatment to remove age spots

Question:
I would like a skin treatment to remove age spots that look like large diffuse freckles. I want a treatment with no down time as I cannot take any time off work. Can microdermabrasion be used to remove this discoloration?

Answer:
Age spots are really spots that form beneath the skin generally as a result of significant sun exposure over time. More than likely you are describing solar lentigenes. The key here is that these lesions are beneath the skins surface and although microdermabrasion will help with superficial discoloration of the skin and fine lines, it will unlikely be effective to treat the age spots you are concerned with. An excellent treatment of these spots is the use of IPL (Intense Pulsed Light) or fractional laser. These two modalities deliver energy beneath the surface of the skin to treat lesions such as age spots. IPL delivers broad band light energy, and fractional lasers generally use erbium lasers for these types of lesions. Each of these modalities can be performed in about an hour and you will have some redness at the treated areas but, you will really have no down time.

Posted by Dr. Philip Schoenfeld