What it is?
Freckles are essentially pigment spots. They can be light yellow or dark yellow in color. Such marks appear in places where a special coloring pigment is deposited in the skin - a substance called melanin. Classic freckles have a regular round shape, most often they are concentrated in the central part of the face, as well as on the top of the back and in the décolleté area. Sometimes you can count them on your fingers, but in some cases the number of such marks goes beyond a hundred.
The main difference between freckles and moles or pronounced age spots is the absence of a significant number of melanocytes—cells that produce melanin—in the former.
Freckles: what are they?
Reddish, brown, red or dark yellow pigment spots on the skin are a cute “highlight” for some and a headache for others. Freckles appear after prolonged exposure to the sun, and sometimes do not go away all year round. The conditions of their formation are not related to age and gender. Freckles occur in men and women, children and adults. They often begin to cover the body at the age of 1-2 years. As you age, the dark spots lighten and often disappear completely.
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The main places where freckles are localized are the face, shoulders, arms, upper chest and back. They are formed in groups, the size of each of them does not exceed 2 mm. In some cases (for example, after sunbathing) they can become larger, reaching 0.5 cm in diameter. These formations appear almost exclusively in fair-skinned people. In people with dark skin, they occur in isolated cases.
Freckles are made up of melanin that accumulates unevenly under the epidermis. Their main difference from abnormal pigmentation and moles is the absence of an increased number of melanocytes (pigment-producing cells). As a result, they do not have a rich color; they can only change shade from yellow to dull reddish brown.
Why and how do they appear?
Freckles are often hereditary. Scientists have concluded that they can sometimes be caused by the recessive gene MC1R. But sometimes freckles appear in those with curls of a completely different color, often light. Some experts are confident that spots on the skin can appear regardless of heredity, but their number is determined mainly at the genetic level.
The mechanism by which hemp appears on the skin is associated with the effect of ultraviolet radiation on the body. When exposed to sunlight, the body reacts by depositing melanin. In this case, existing freckles become darker, and new spots form. Sometimes in winter the skin clears up and becomes absolutely even in color, but with the first rays of the sun the same spots may appear again and become brighter.
Freckles are not considered a disease or disorder. However, they directly indicate a person’s increased sensitivity to the aggressive effects of ultraviolet radiation.
What causes them to appear on the face in spring?
Most often, freckles appear in the spring, when the first sun begins to warm up. Skin that has become unaccustomed to ultraviolet radiation over the winter instantly reacts to it. But instead of an even tan, the face becomes covered with spots.
Sometimes freckles appear on the body and face not in the spring, but in the hot summer, for example, with intense exposure to the sun. In this case, their appearance is explained by non-compliance with the rules of safe tanning. Such marks are also called sunspots; they are larger than classic freckles (from 0.2 to 2 cm), have a disproportionate shape and are too dark in color. They may disappear over time, but most often remain on the face and body for a long time.
It is believed that proper UV protection helps avoid the appearance of such spots.
Who has them?
Most often, freckles appear in children and continue to remain on the skin until the age of 30. Such spots are typical for:
- Owners of red hair.
- People with fair skin.
- People with blond hair.
Such people initially do not have much protective pigment in their skin, so their melanin often accumulates locally.
What causes freckles?
But first of all, it’s worth understanding why freckles appear on the face.
First of all, you should know that hemp is not a skin defect or a disease. These yellow, red or brown spots appear on the face and body due to impaired melanin production. And they are usually “activated” by the spring sun. Therefore, for many girls, freckles in winter and autumn are almost invisible, and in the warm season they become much brighter.
However, it is a mistake to believe that the face becomes freckled due to the sun's rays. They only make freckles more pronounced. But the reasons for the appearance of these specks are usually completely different.
Thus, the hereditary factor plays a large role in the appearance of hemp. If one of the parents or immediate relatives has a freckled face, chances are high that the child will get the same. Moreover, fair-haired people are more prone to the appearance of freckles than brunettes and brown-haired women.
Freckles can also appear due to a lack of folic acid in the body, or, more simply, vitamin B9. Its deficiency leads to the fact that melanin is produced unevenly, as a result of which the skin acquires such an uneven freckled color.
In addition, the appearance of freckles can be affected by pregnancy, puberty, and taking hormonal pills. And sometimes the cause of their appearance is poor-quality cosmetics, frequent facial peeling, constant stress, as well as liver or gall bladder diseases.
However, hemp usually lightens with age and by the age of 40-50 practically disappears from the face. However, what about those who want to get rid of them earlier? Such girls should pay attention to effective folk methods that can lighten the hemp and make it much less noticeable.
Why do people need it?
Most experts are confident that freckles themselves do not have any function. They are simply a skin reaction to ultraviolet radiation. However, there is a fairly popular opinion that hemp, as centers of concentrated tanning, plays the role of a protective factor - they protect important areas of the human body from the aggression of ultraviolet radiation. This opinion is only a theory; it has no scientific evidence.
Causes of age spots
In medicine, there are two main factors that contribute to the appearance of these rashes:
- exposure to UV rays;
- genetic predisposition.
Of course, the second point has the greatest influence on the formation of spots. Pale-skinned people with reddish hair, traits passed on to them from their parents, are more likely to have this distinctive feature than people with dark skin. It should be understood that the appearance of spots is influenced by the ability of the dermis to produce melanin. Thus, albinos, although they have unusually light skin, a priori cannot have pigment spots, like tanning, due to the complete absence of the melanin pigment. In other words, freckles are nothing more than an excessive and uneven accumulation of melanin cells. In dark-skinned women and men, under the influence of UV radiation, the dermis begins to actively produce pigment for protection, resulting in the formation of a tan.
There are two main types of pigmented rashes, determined by the cause of their appearance. According to this classification, freckles on the face and body are divided into:
- ephelides;
- lentigo.
The first type includes clusters of freckles in the classical sense. Such rashes appear in most people with fair skin in the spring and summer due to prolonged exposure to the sun. Lentigines are much less common, they are not associated with seasonality and do not disappear even in winter. They most often affect the back and chest, although they are often located on the cheeks or nose. They are characterized by a larger diameter than ephelides - 5-10 mm, and a darker shade. Doctors classify this phenomenon as a disease.
Pathological causes on the body
Sometimes the sudden appearance of freckles on the body can be a symptom. In particular, if such pigmentation suddenly appears in an adult who has never had hemp before, it can warn of:
- Hormonal imbalance. A similar problem can occur in women of reproductive age due to a failure in the normal functioning of the ovaries. This disrupts the production of hormones, which leads to improper distribution of melanin. At the same time, a woman may also face the problem of an irregular menstrual cycle and painful sensations in the mammary glands. The presence of alarming symptoms should be considered as a reason to consult a gynecologist.
- Disturbances in the functioning of the liver or biliary tract. It is believed that the appearance of hemp in such problems is directly related to the level of bilirubin in the blood.
Sometimes the appearance of many small hemp on the body is accompanied by the appearance of pigment spots on the mucous membranes, which can warn of the development of a rare Peutz-Eghers syndrome, in which many benign polyps (sometimes more than a hundred) are formed in the digestive tract, prone to growth and malignancy. To date, this disease cannot be treated.
If freckles suddenly appear in an adult, it is worth undergoing a complete unscheduled examination by a doctor.
Causes of freckles
According to scientists, the determining factor in the appearance of such pigmentation is heredity. Thus, freckles are associated with a defect in the structure of skin melanocyte cells, which are responsible for the production of the melanin pigment. This pigment is a kind of skin protection from sunburn and the negative effects of ultraviolet radiation.
During the normal production process, melanin gives an even tan, but in “freckled” people, pigment cells are distributed unevenly and work too intensely. People with freckles quickly burn in the sun and rarely get a beautiful tan. If there is a genetic predisposition to spot pigmentation, then it manifests itself in the form of a scattering of red spots.
It should be emphasized that freckles are not a skin disease and do not cause any discomfort to their owners, other than an aesthetic defect. Multiple round spots of yellowish-brown color most often appear in white-skinned people with blond or reddish hair. Freckles do not rise above the surface of the skin, but may darken or fade depending on the activity of ultraviolet rays.
“Hemp” appears in childhood, in adolescence there are more of them, and in adulthood they often disappear on their own.
Other causes of age spots on the skin of the face include:
- hormonal disorders;
- stress, increased physical activity, which provokes hormonal imbalance;
- pathologies of the kidneys, liver, gall bladder;
- lack of vitamin C and nicotinic acid in the body;
- taking medications that increase photosensitivity of the skin;
- frequent peeling procedures;
- tanning abuse;
- age-related skin changes.
If freckles appeared at the age of 30-40, then they should not be ignored. Such pigmentation indicates serious disorders in the human body.
