Basking in the sun used to be really fun - until you found yourself worrying about

getting rid of age spots that suddenly covered your hands, and especially your face. It would've been cute when you were three when they were called "freckles." But now that you're decades beyond that age, these age spots don't say 'cute' anymore, rather, they're screaming 'old'.

Brown age spots are caused by over exposure to the sun or it could be also an heredity. Melanin those pigment cell in your skin are produced by your skin, in response to the dangerous UV rays of the sun. In order to protect your skin from sun damage, melanine is produced as a strong barrier against rays, this take a form of brown spots or age spots as we know them.

Since this is a sever problem for most woman and men also, some face age spot treatments have been develop. There are chemical peels, laser resurfacing treatments, laser surgery for age spots and creams.

However, as with any other problem concerning the body, prevention is always the best cure. Taking care of your skin early and protecting it from possible damage can be very helpful in preventing these spots from developing, as well as worrying about eliminating age spots in the future.

Since most of the age spots are caused by sun damage, the best protection you can take, is to avoid over exposure to the sun. Wear proper clothes, sunglasses and one of thing you should always use is sunscreen. Apply it to your body on every area, especially your arms, face and legs that are more exposed to the sun. If you skin is very light you should take special protection on your skin, because your skin is more vulnerable to developing skin age spots because you have less melanin. The other problem with people with very light skin is that is more difficult to reduce age spots on the body.

Another cause of hyper pigmentation in age spots is improper skin care. If you had acne pimples, wounds or rashes, they leave a dark spot. However this marks disappear easily after some time unless you expose your skin to the sun. If you expose your acne dark spots to the sun, it will be very difficult to get rid of age spots.

It would also be very helpful to know how your genes affect your skin. When you inherit a skin that is vulnerable to a lot of skin damage - especially sun damage - or allergies, then you have to be extra careful about your skin. This may be the reason why most people - Latinas for example - have so many age spots, while some barely have these sun blemishes.

Be careful about what you put on your face too, as you may develop age spots as a result of using harsh chemicals on your face. As we mentioned earlier, melanin in the skin acts as a protective barrier against damage, and harsh chemicals can have the same effect , it may leave your face or any part of your body with dark spots and if excessively damaged, removing age spots from the body, may take you quite a while, not to mention a lot of sessions with numerous laser treatments.