How to Get Rid of Freckles

When people think of freckles, the first thing that comes to mind is red hair and usually a cute little kid with a naughty grin. Freckles do not affect everyone. The reason why it affects some people could be a genetic predisposition. Freckles are caused by melanin which gets concentrated in one part of the face producing a light brown or dark brown spot. It seems to affect fair skin more, only because it shows up more clearly on fair skin, not that dark skins are affected less. When melanocytes in the skin get damaged due to the sun, freckles are produced.

There are some treatments to get rid of freckles, good application of concealer in the meantime can be done if you really care that much. Bleaching the skin with a good over the counter bleach is a very common way of getting rid of them, though people have been known to burn themselves being over enthusiastic or not reading the instructions clearly enough. Bleaching has a bigger downfall in the fact that the skin around the freckles is also bleached, so unless you have loads of freckles this may not be a permanent solution.

Retinoid creams containing retin-A and vitamin A are choices for freckle reduction as these products neutralize the pigment itself. The skin can get super sensitive to sunburn after this though, so the advice is to avoid sunlight, but to stay indoors completely for a couple days or weeks as advised on the package.

A home made bleaching solution using undiluted lemon juice simply applied directly to the freckles at morning and night for about two months for long lasting results. The duration of how long it lasts, varies according to skin type, so some experimentation is required. Since lemon juice is a natural acid, you may want to add a little more moisturizer during the day to counteract any dryness or skin peeling effects. You can also mix something like rose water with the lemon juice but then you might have to wait longer for the effects to show.

Another option is skin peeling procedures done with a reputed dermatologist. In practice it is similar to abrasion except that chemicals are used to do away with the upper layers of your skin, this takes away everything. In the aftermath you have to be very careful to keep out of the sun at all costs. Of course your dermatologist will tell you all this but it simply cannot be reinforced enough.

The laser resurfacing version of this is the same, except that a laser is used to remove the top layers. Since the freckles are mostly on the upper layers of the skin anyway, any kind of laser should remove it comfortably. Some side effects of laser therapy may be bruising of the skin so be sure you want to endure whatever it is. The most important thing after selecting a good dermatologist is the maintenance afterward.

Freezing therapy, becoming more and more popular even though it appears to be painful, involves using liquid nitrogen on each freckle, allowing it to swell to wart size and then taking it off completely by cutting it, if it has not fallen off already. Cryotherapy should be approached with caution. No need to reinforce having a good doctor again. A good doctor can save your life – you don’t want to end up regretting hiring a quack do you?

After trying one of the above methods to rid you of freckles, some other things to follow includes using sunscreen religiously, this is ultimately the only way to avoid freckles by reducing sun exposure. It is the ultra violet rays that are the culprit in the first place, so sunscreen and good skin care in general is advisable.