47 year old Male with some Sun Spots under eyes
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Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:56 am

Wanted to reach out. During the summer months, I'm outdoors on the weekend for 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday with a lot of sun and refelction off the water from boating. Have not used sunscreen products a lot in my younger years but now as I get older, I am getting sunspots between upper cheek and lower eyes.

Any suggestion on how to get rid of these quickly (not 6-8 motnhs from now but perhaps in a month?). I would call these moderate sunspots

Any suggestions on prevention? (please note its around 100 degrees during the summers and the problem I have had in the past is getting sunscreen in my eyes and irritation)

Thanks in advance!

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 10:23 am

Hi and welcome Mikail! Smile

One month time frame for sun spots I would suggest you fix an appointment with a derm. No topicals will work that fast, sorry!

Sunscreen is still the best idea for prevention. The *only* thing is you would have to trial and error which one works best for you. In general, physical sunscreens are less likely to irritate.

Also take a look at JoshuaP's notepad on makeupalley.com. IIRC he's had problems with sunscreens even after trying lots, and is currently using antioxidants as an alternative. Hths!

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:30 am

I'd start on Obaji clear..or Estee Lauders Illuminator. I used the illuminator for two weeks and saw results. Not totally gone.but diminished.
You could also go to your derm..but whatever they do will require some time to heal..so go quick..or in a month when you need to look good you could have some ugly stuff going on.

Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:34 am

What about TCA chemical peels?

If not a chemical peel, which topicals work faster than others? Lets say in 3-6 months?
Obaji products? Any recommendations?

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:44 am

Obaji is the gold standard. It is a system you use for 12 weeks to reinvent ones skin. Even many derms suggest you do obaji for six weeks before a laser treatment to tackle pigmentation problems and wrinkles. Obji uses "clear" which is 4percent hydroquinone...which some say when used long term could be toxic. Therefore, many cosmetic companies have come out with other spot reducers that are made with other ingredients..not hydroquinone..yet those usually take longer to work..but some opt to use them for the safety.

I think after six weeks on obaji with a 30 sunscreen you'd have it beat. Also..if you do obaji nuderm...you'll look a lot younger too.

Mon Nov 14, 2011 11:58 am

Looks like Obaji has a ton of products.. Is there only 1 Obaji Clear and Nuderm?

Mon Nov 14, 2011 12:15 pm

Is it Obagi Clear #3 and Obagi Nuderm?

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:03 pm

I never heard of clear numbered like that...

but obaji nu derm is the use of the obaji line of products; clear, blender, exfoderm with the addition of retin A. You can buy it cheapest on amazon.. but if you have the $$$ you might want to go to a skincare spa to get it and have directions given to you.

Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:14 pm

Any products you would recommend for dark circles under eyes?

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 4:25 pm

go to the search function at the top right of the page and put in "dark circles" there are many threads on this forum addressing that.
It is an individual thing..as some are caused by stress and sleeplessness..and others are hereditary.
I have found obaji elastiderm eye cream is working for me.

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 6:50 pm

Sunspots isn't just sun exposure. The sun is the catalyst but there is usually an underlying condition within the body which makes one more prone to developing them or not. this is usually a bigger concern amount women for whom hormonal imbalance is the real culprit, making their skin less able to cope with sun exposure.

In the short term sunscreen. I use invisible zinc around my eyes and it's completely non irritating. I use the one that comes in the handy pump pack.

If you are spending long hours in the sun and getting reflected UV rays I personally think using a strong topical system is just asking for this problem to worsen in the future. No matter what topical treatment you use, the advice is always to minimise sun exposure while you heal. Sunscreen does not 100% block UV Rays, you will still get exposure. Only instead of your dead and thick epidermis providing a shield, you are now exposing raw and extremely fragile new cells to the UV. Recipe for disaster in my books. However you feel about it now, just remember it can be worse and I'm reasonably certain you don't want that to happen.

I would strongly recommend you increase your natural UV resistance with an improved diet and a nutrient packed supplement. The whole food powders are excellent. This will increase the availability in your body of antioxidants, minerals and amino acids which in combination bolsters your skins own natural sun protection
factor. There is some evidence also that supplementation significantly reduces the
appearance of sun spots and hyperpigmentation.

Sunspots\liver spots are oxidation of fats within the skin. Free radical damage. Antioxidants are a preventative. Hyper pigmentation is excess melanin caused by cells being overactive in their protective mechanism. Very similar to how cancer cells are overactive. Correct nutrition can also help with normal cell function.

Sorry, but there isn't a fast fix to this, if there were, thousands of people everywhere would be using it.

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:07 pm

Wow, that makes so much sense.
I gather Invisible Zinc is a brandname, which they apparently don't sell in Canada. Is there a similar product?
And I don't know much about supplements and just try to eat well, but all this talk about soils being depleted and nutrients being necessary is freaking me out! Can you recommend a type of whole food powder? That's hopefully not too expensive.
I've ordered Devita ss from Vitacost before which was easy enough.. maybe I'll check there. Thanks!

free skin care · Mon Nov 14, 2011 8:33 pm

Hi Lori,

Yes Invisble Inc is a brand-name sold in Australia. It's a sunscreen that contains no chemical blockers only mineral blockers - zinc at 22%. GOW sell an equivalent.

Whole food powders are found everywhere though. They are typically green powders, wheat grass, barley grass, and marine algae. I take one that contains all of the above in a mix. These are basically just food that provide a dense broad spectrum of vitamins, minerals and amino acids in the quantities and combinations that nature intended. It's very difficult to overdose taking these you'd have to have a very strong stomach to do so. Even in high doses they are extremely safe.

The only ones I wouldn't recommend are either Barley grass or wheat grass powder on their own. They are heavy detoxers and it's rather unpleasant to go into rapid detox. By taking a 50\50 mix of grass powders and marine algae I find it's a much gentler experience.

I eat 80% fresh and steamed green vegetables, a little bit of meat and hardly any grains (I'm grain intolerant), drink plenty of filtered water, and take 15gms of green powder a day and find this diet to be very good for me.

I discovered a link between hyperpigmentatiom and copper imbalance via the earth clinic website. With many people there finding supplements as one of a few effective methods of treating melasma. Very few people found any real solution via topical application of anything except apple cider vinegar but many had positive results with supplementation.

Copper imbalance is common and leads to adrenal fatigue, hormonal imbalance and can lead to skin pigmentation as well.

Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:22 am

Would lower Testosterone levels contribute to this?

free skin care · Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:41 pm

Mikail wrote:

Would lower Testosterone levels contribute to this?

Not sure. Melasma in women is a result of estrogen dominance and usually sets in around mid life when both estrogen and progesterone levels drop but progesterone drops by a greater degree, making them estrogen dominant. This is also why birth control chemicals cause it, it makes them estrogen dominant. It's not too much of a leap of logic to think that hormone levels may also have associated effects in men.

What I do know for sure is that not all people pigment, even with similar sun exposure in their
youth. One gentleman I work with who is over 50,
smoked for half his life and spent plenty of
time in the sun has skin as pink and even as a
baby. Genetically he is very pale. He attributes this to the topical use of brown vinegar on his skin, which I thought was interesting. Many people also report a fading of these kinds of things with the topical use of 50\50 mix of Apple Cider Vinegar and water, sponged onto the skin daily.

Note - do NOT use 100% vinegar directly on the skin. It's too acidic and will burn you, I know from experience.

I suppose this topical treatment will cost you very little, is mild and why not give it a go? Just remember to wear sunscreen daily if you do. All topical treatments that are acid based will make you more photosensitive.

free skin care · Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:26 pm

Thanks NMNY! I did a search but didn't find anything that had the entire mix. I'll keep my eye out in my local stores though. I also eat lots of green veggies and a little bit of meat and brown rice or pasta.
I didn't know a.c.v. was that effective! I'd stopped using cleansers that threw my ph off so I stopped using it. Silly me, my skin LOVED it!

free skin care · Wed Nov 16, 2011 8:59 pm

Another thing you can do to both increase natural sun resistance and reduce those spots is take prodigious amounts of Tumeric. You can get them in pill form but it is hideously expensive and why bother when you can get it from an Asian grocer for $3? Just be sure to purchase Tumeric and not curry powder as they look the same but contain different things.

Tumeric contains curcumin, a powerful antioxidant that not only helps protect from UV rays but also is a melanin production blocker. 40 times more powerful than Arbutin. The ingredient in the leading topical treatments for your condition. Yes you can apply Tumeric topically but it stains everything bright yellow! Thankfully, ingesting it also gives you the same benefit.

Incidentally curcumin is also a liver tonic, as a plus.

Now you can certainly just down a couple of mouthfuls of the stuff everyday but it's not all that tasty that way. One of the more pleasing ways to ingest it, is by making a Chai Latte with it. Tumeric is more colour than flavor, but in high doses it's a bit like pepper.

Here's my recipe for a tasty drink using Tumeric.

1 cup of whole milk
2 tsp of coconut oil (Tumeric is oil soluble so adding this oil not on makes your drink creamy, it also assists in your assimilation of it. )
A pinch of black pepper (pepper is known to increase Tumerics effects)
2 tsp of ground Tumeric
1/2 tsp of Mixed Spice (mix of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and sometimes a few other things) this is sold in the baking aisle and is a mixed spice for use in cakes and cookies. It smells sweet
1-2 tsp of sugar.

Add all of that to a pot, stir and heat to drinking temp. Dont boil it or heat too much. It will ruin the taste and probably the curcumin as well. Remove from heat and whisk with a stick
mixer to make it frothy. Pour into a glass and enjoy. You'll have to drink this everyday to support your skin. But on the plus side, it will kickstart your metabolism.

free skin care · Thu Nov 17, 2011 6:23 am

Perhaps we could purchase empty gel caps and put the cheaper bulk turmeric inside and just swallow.

Thanks for the turmeric tip... I knew it was good for us...but that seems worth adding in as a daily supplement.

free skin care · Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:13 pm

Mmmm, the recipe sounds deelish! And also includes coconut oil, which I like to include daily.

I just started eating yogurt with a little tumeric (& pinch of salt & pepper), which I like, but haven't successfully made a habit of. Maybe this will be a nice bedtime drink which helps me sleep as well.

Thanks, I knew of the overall health benefits, but didn't know it was a malanin production blocker!!! WAAAHOO!

free skin care · Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:49 pm

hotdocgirl wrote:

Perhaps we could purchase empty gel caps and put the cheaper bulk turmeric inside and just swallow.

Thanks for the turmeric tip... I knew it was good for us...but that seems worth adding in as a daily supplement.

Sure can, add black pepper to your capsule as it will help you ingest it, and take it with a bit of oil. Maybe fish oil capsules?

free skin care · Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:08 pm

NotMeNotYou wrote:

Tumeric contains curcumin, a powerful antioxidant that not only helps protect from UV rays but also is a melanin production blocker. 40 times more powerful than Arbutin. The ingredient in the leading topical treatments for your condition. Yes you can apply Tumeric topically but it stains everything bright yellow! Thankfully, ingesting it also gives you the same benefit.

Incidentally curcumin is also a liver tonic, as a plus.

Where are you getting this nutritional and skincare information from? Can you please provide your source(s).

free skin care · Thu Nov 17, 2011 2:31 pm

Mikail wrote:

Would lower Testosterone levels contribute to this?

If that is the case, you have concerns other than just melasma, such as infertility, decreased libido, gynecomastia, etc. If you suspect this is possible, you should see a doctor to get a blood test. However, your melasma could just be freckles that are genetic - you should probably see a derm too to clarify.

free skin care · Thu Nov 17, 2011 8:38 pm

Lacy53 wrote:

Where are you getting this nutritional and skincare information from? Can you please provide your source(s).

The source is in the DIY forum under Tumeric Facial. Didn't see any point in posting it twice. Its use as a liver tonic is well known and hence the reason why you can find it in pill form in supplement stores.

Here's another study...

http://www.sabinsa.com/newsroom/articles/SabiWhite.pdf

And this study this time focusing on ingestion of the substance and it's effect on the skin.

[url]http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Effects+of+a+turmeric+extract+(Curcuma+longa)+on+chronic+ultraviolet...-a0221082964[/url]

free skin care · Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:40 am

Wow I learned so much from this post. I also tried a lot of things but so far only laser works.

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