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Even youngsters can get age
spots with too much unprotected sun exposure.
How to Avoid Age Spots Completely
Preventing age spots proves
the best way to completely avoid them. This includes:
1. Avoiding intense sunlight
hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
2. Wearing a hat and long sleeve
shirt in the sun.
3. Applying sunscreen 20 minutes
before going outdoors and reapplying it every two hours.
Precautions
Additionally, note that the
sun and excess chemicals don’t mix. For instance, most often
in middle-aged women, might mistake irregular areas of reddish-brown
pigmentation called poikiloderma for age spots.
Poikiloderma results from chronic
sun exposure combined with sun-sensitive chemicals in cosmetics
or perfume. Hence, poikiloderma most frequently appears on the
side of the neck or on the cheeks.
Sunscreen Is More Potent
Than You Thought
You may feel annoyed with the
repeated advise of slathering yourself with sunscreen, but a
study published in the October 14, 1993 edition of the New
England Journal of Medicine gives you reason to appreciate
your sunscreen an effective age spot eraser.
In the study, researchers found
that among sunscreen users, those who rubbed on the most cream
with the greatest regularity had the largest reduction in actinic
keratoses.
Actinic keratoses (AKs) describe
the rough, red, scaly patches, crusts or sores that measure anywhere
from one-quarter to one-inch in diameter. Like most other age
spots, you’ll find actinic keratoses on body areas most
readily exposed to the sun.
How To Minimize the Appearance
of Age Spots
Eat your age spots away
Research studies also reveal
the benefits of eating your nutrients to reduce the appearance
of age spots. The water-soluble pigment found in most vegetables,
fruits, grain, flowers, seeds, leaves and bark, called flavanoid
provides numerous antioxidant properties.
In research studies, flavanoids
even prevented cancer formation in animals.
Likewise, you’ll find age
spot reducing properties in soy products. The protein extracts
of soybean and soymilk contain several different estrogen-like
substances called isoflavones. One study showed that soy isoflavones
might lighten age spots.
Home Remedies
Erasing your age spots can begin
right in your own kitchen. In Japan, the rice based drink, sake,
serves as an age spot lightener when applied to the skin.
You can also use lemon juice
to lighten age spots. Simply dab a cotton ball in freshly squeezed
lemon juice and apply the liquid to the age spots twice daily-
once in the morning and once in the evening. Warning: Lemon juice
makes the skin photosensitive so ensure to protect your skin
with sunscreen before enjoying the sunshine.
Pull a green papaya out of the
fridge and use the fleshy side of the skin to reduce age spots.
Just apply the papaya to the spots for 15-20 minutes daily and
repeat until you attain the desire lightness.
Of course, since home remedies
offer an inexpensive and gentle way to reduce age spots, they
require time to see results- usually six to eight weeks.
What To Do Right Now To Stop
Age Spots
Because age spots, poikiloderma
and actinic keratoses can serve as warning signs for skin cancer,
the American Academy of Dermatology recommends scheduling a professional
skin examination each year.
You can find out how to give
yourself a skin examination by visting http://www.skincarephysicians.com.
Use this information now before your forget, because before you
know it, the sixth aging nuisance for baby boomers- memory loss-will
creep in on you. |
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