Age Spots: Treatments That Actually Work (Dermatologist-Reviewed)

Age spots have little to do with age and everything to do with sun. They are patches of concentrated pigment where years of ultraviolet exposure have pushed the skin’s pigment cells into overdrive, which is why they appear on the face, the backs of the hands, the chest, and the shoulders, and why they show up earlier in people who spent their twenties outdoors. They are flat, brown, harmless, and among the easiest pigment problems to treat, provided you also change what caused them.

Check first, treat second

The one rule that comes before any treatment: make sure the spot is what you think it is. Solar lentigines are benign, but early melanomas and other skin cancers can resemble a dark, irregular age spot. Anything that has changed, has uneven borders or more than one color, bleeds, or is new and growing gets a dermatologist’s look before a laser touches it. Clinics with good practice will refuse to treat a spot that looks wrong, which is a reason to trust them rather than a frustration.

Lifting the pigment

BBL and IPL photofacials are the first choice for scattered spots on lighter skin. The light is absorbed by the pigment, the spot darkens within a day or two, then flakes away over a week, leaving even skin behind. Most spots clear in one to three sessions, and the treatment also improves diffuse redness and overall tone in the same pass. Downtime is a few days of looking like the spots got darker, which is the treatment working.

Fractional laser resurfacing is for dense, widespread sun damage, spots that resisted light, and cases where texture has changed along with color. It clears more per session with more recovery, and it needs conservative settings on deeper skin tones, where any light-based treatment can trigger new pigment.

Chemical peels take the gradual route. A series of medium-depth peels lifts pigment over several sessions while evening the whole complexion, and on olive and darker skin they are often the safer path. Results build over a couple of months.

Keeping them gone

Treated spots do not return. New ones do, if the skin keeps getting the sun that made them. Every provider will say this and most patients will nod and skip it: broad-spectrum sunscreen every morning on the face, neck, chest, and hands, reapplied when outdoors, is the maintenance plan. A yearly touch-up session handles whatever slips through.

How to choose a provider

Ask what device they use for pigment and whether it is safe for your skin tone; this matters more for age spots than for almost any other treatment, because the wrong setting produces the very marks you came to remove. Ask to see spots on your skin tone at three months after treatment. And ask what they do if a spot looks suspicious, because the answer should involve a dermatologist.

Browse the clinics below. Bring the sunscreen conversation with you; it is half the treatment.

Treatments for age spots, compared

Best-first, with honest notes on when each is the right call.

Treatment	Typical cost	Downtime	When it's the right call
BBL Photofacial	$400–$900 per session	1–3 days of redness; brown spots darken then flake off over 7–14 days	The first choice for scattered sun spots on lighter skin. The light targets the pigment, the spots darken and flake off over a week, and most clear in one to three sessions.
Laser Skin Resurfacing	$500–$3,500 per session	1–2 days (non-ablative) up to 1–2 weeks (ablative)	For dense sun damage with texture change, or spots that did not respond to light. Stronger clearing, more downtime, and careful settings on deeper skin tones.
Chemical Peel	$100–$600 per session	A few hours (light), about a week (medium), about 2 weeks (deep)	A series of medium-depth peels fades spots gradually and evens the whole complexion. Often the safer route on skin tones where light treatments carry pigment risk.
Microneedling	$200–$700 per session	1–2 days of redness, similar to a mild sunburn	Not a pigment treatment on its own, but it improves the texture and tone that make sun damage read as old skin, and helps topical brighteners penetrate.

Age Spots: common questions

Are age spots dangerous?

True age spots, also called solar lentigines, are harmless. The concern is that early skin cancers can look similar. Any spot that is changing, has irregular edges or multiple colors, bleeds, or is new and growing should be checked by a dermatologist before any cosmetic treatment. A good clinic will decline to treat a spot that looks suspicious and send you for a check first.

Do they come back?

The treated spot is gone. The skin's tendency to make new ones from sun exposure is not, so new spots appear over years without protection. Daily broad-spectrum sunscreen on the face, chest, and hands is the difference between a result that lasts years and one that fades in a season.

What about the hands and chest?

Both respond well to light and laser and are commonly treated in the same series as the face. The chest is more sensitive and needs gentler settings; the hands sometimes need an extra session because the pigment is denser. Both areas get more sun than people realize and need sunscreen afterward.

Where this information comes from

Clinical facts on this page are checked against these primary sources.

1.What causes age spots?, American Academy of DermatologyThat age spots (solar lentigines) form from cumulative sun exposure on the areas that get the most sun, such as the face and hands, and that they can return unless the skin is protected with shade, UV-protective clothing, and broad-spectrum SPF 30+ sunscreen going forward, backing the page's description of age spots as sun damage on sun-exposed areas and its guidance that daily sunscreen is what keeps new spots from forming.

2.What to look for: ABCDEs of melanoma, American Academy of DermatologyThe warning signs of melanoma, asymmetry, an irregular or poorly defined border, multiple or uneven colors, and any spot that is new or evolving, itching, or bleeding, backing the page's guidance that a changing, irregular, multi-colored, bleeding, or new and growing spot needs a dermatologist's look before any cosmetic treatment.

3.Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) Therapy, StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (National Library of Medicine)That IPL/BBL treats pigmented lesions through selective photothermolysis, where melanin absorbs the light and converts it to heat that breaks down the targeted pigment, and that clearing a lesion is cumulative and typically needs a course of several treatments, backing the page's description of BBL/IPL light being absorbed by the pigment in a sun spot to fade it over a course of sessions.

4.510(k) Premarket Notification Clearance K032460: Profile BBL System, U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationThe FDA cleared Sciton's BBL system for treatment of benign pigmented lesions including dyschromia, hyperpigmentation, and freckles (ephelides), backing the page's description of BBL/IPL as the light-based treatment that targets sun spot pigment.

5.Ablative Laser Resurfacing, National Library of Medicine, StatPearls (National Institutes of Health)That ablative laser resurfacing removes damaged outer skin layers to treat photodamage, that recovery runs longer than lighter treatments, and that non-fractional CO2 lasers are not recommended on Fitzpatrick skin types IV and above because of dyspigmentation risk, with Erbium:YAG preferred instead, backing the page's description of fractional laser resurfacing as the stronger option for dense sun damage that needs more recovery and conservative settings on deeper skin tones.

6.Chemical peels: FAQs, American Academy of DermatologyThat people with skin of color can safely have a chemical peel but should see a dermatologist experienced in treating darker skin tones, since without that expertise they can develop permanent pigment problems, and that a peel series is typically repeated every 2 to 5 weeks to build results, backing the page's description of a peel series fading spots gradually and being often the safer route on skin tones where light-based treatments carry pigment risk.

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This page is for education, not medical advice or diagnosis. The right treatment depends on an in-person assessment by a qualified provider.

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