Spots Have Their Place, But Not On Your Face!

Katina is one of our fantastic Estheticians at our downtown milk + honey spa. She has been working as an Esthetician and natural Nail Therapist for more than 15 years. She explains how to help prevent those spots on your skin. Hyperpigmentation If you start to notice spots appearing on your skin, don't panic. At least not right away. When patches of skin become darker in color than the normal surrounding skin color, as in the case of age spots or "liver spots," it is because of a common, usually harmless condition known a hyper-pigmentation. Hyperpigmentation is the effect of an increase in the melanin, the substance in the body that is responsible for color. Melanin absorbs the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays in order to protect the skin from overexposure, but in doing so, it can cause:

• •Freckles
• •Age Spots
• •Other darkened skin patches

One common form of hyperpigmentation are age spots, which occur in people over the age of 40, because at that age people have a diminished supply of melanin and cannot fight off the UV rays as well as they used to. Because hyperpigmentation occurs due to sun damage, it is usually referred to by doctors as solar lentigo, which is benign, but an indication of excessive exposure to the sun. Another affect of hyperpigmentation appearing because of exposure to the sun, is that it usually occurs on the areas of the skin that are in view of the sun most frequently, such as the hands and face. Unfortunately, these areas of the body that are most often in view of others. Avoid skin hyperpigmentation by applying a topical skin care product. A milk + honey spa favorite is from our Lightning Serum from our Cosmedix line, available at our milk + honey spas. Not only does this powerful brightening and lightening agent effectively reduce the appearance of age spots, freckles, and hyper-pigmentation, but chirally correct lightening also prevents future melanin formations, which help maintain a youthful appearance. The Cosmedix Lightning Serum is infused with licorice, mulberry and green tea extract. The licorice and mulberry combine to lighten and brighten your complexion, and green tea extract prevents inflammation. Always remember, spots have their place, but not on your face!