One of the most common skin questions I get is:
“Are my sunspots fading… or are they getting worse?”
It’s a great question because the answer isn’t always obvious. This pigment can be sneaky—sometimes fading in one area while surfacing in another. But when we understand what is needed for skin to heal from sunspots we can sit back and have patience for the inevitable fading that comes with the right consistent care.
What Are Sunspots Anyway?
Sunspots, liver spots, age spots—whatever you want to call them—are simply concentrated areas of pigment as a result of our skin’s mechanism to protect itself. They’re not random, and they don’t become permanent unless they are ignored. They’re your skin’s record-keeping system. A quiet archive of past sun exposure, inflammation, past trauma, and even internal imbalance.
You’ll usually find them on the forehead, cheeks, and upper lip—anywhere on your face that has been overexposed is fair game.
Are Your Sunspots Coming Or Going?
This depends entirely on your skin care routine, internal health, hormonal balance, and possible medications. Yes these are a lot of variables and each category must be addressed to ensure that your pigment is leaving.
Here is the catch that confuses so many people: All pigment oxidizes as it travels up and out of our skin. Your pigment will look worse before it naturally sloughs off your skin. 3-6 months is a realistic time frame. Let me repeat: It looks worse before it begins to finally fade. Don’t stop the protocols…keep going.
Skin that has been overprocedured from chemical peels, lasers, microdermabrasion and the like will take longer to rebalance due to the compounded sun vulnerabilities that exacerbate the original pigment issue.
Compromised skin can take 3-5 times longer to rebalance, often 1-3 years as this skin requires more time to rebuild the dermal vitality needed to recreate itself and purge the old pigment.
Rebound hyperpigmentation is when skin pigment can be made 2-3 times worse by conventional skin care attempts to fix it. Often skin health providers will gaslight you into saying it’s your fault for discontinuing the skin care routines that cause the very problem. Correcting rebound hyperpigmentation can ultimately be victorious but takes even longer than the original 3-6 months.
Why Sunspots Show Up & Sometimes Return
These marks are your skin’s way of coping with:
- UV exposure (past or present)
- Hormonal shifts
- Abrasion type wounding
- Harsh products that disrupt the acid mantle
- Lack of lipids and dermal nourishment
- Medications
- Emotional Stress
- Internal Digestive Imbalances
How to Support the Healing of Sunspots
Minimal Cleansing
Never use a cleanser in the morning & use warm water only. Surprisingly, warm water is sufficient enough to cleanse your skin. Only if your skin has a lot of makeup and/or layers of thick SPF is a gentle cleaner needed.
Cease Sun Exposure & Sun-Sensitizing Medications
Cease sun-sensitizing medications whenever it is safe to do so. Focus on your internal health microbiome and hormone balance.
Stop exposing your skin to the sun. Discover an invisible UV-blocking skin serum (yes, this unique product exists, email me for more information.) Apply 50+ SPF daily and reapply every 2 hours with prolonged exposure.
Monthly Enzyme Exfoliation
Use an enzyme exfoliator 1-2 times a month that will not dehydrate your skin. Revive is the ideal exfoliant as it hydrates tremendously as well as gives the perfect exfoliation. Do not use glycolic, lactic, or salicylic acid to exfoliate as these ingredients increase your sun sensitivity which is the worst thing one could do for pigment.
Maximize Hydration & Barrier Restoration
Use a true hydrating mist (Devote) and a water-loving serum underneath a lipid-rich barrier cream. This ensures that water is being magnified and trapped underneath the moisturizer.
Give Your Skin Dermal Nutrients
Dermal Nutrients will increase cell turnover without sun sensitizing and adding inflammation. It’s a true game-changer. If your skin doesn’t get resourced with Dermal Nutrients or specialized bio peptides it will not have the sustenance to increase cell turnover and push up and out the stored pigment. These holistic actives will only be activated in the context of optimized hydration, barrier restoration, and the abstinence of trauma and anxiety-ridden products and procedures.
Amp Up Your Night Skin Care Routine
Up your nightly skin care routine by increasing your holistic actives like stronger doses of Dermal Nutrients, specialized bio-peptide serums, potent vitamin C formulas, & niacinamide.
These protocols will ensure that your pigment is leaving.
Fading sunspots isn’t about waving a wand and making them instantly disappear. It’s about giving your skin what it needs to do the job itself in time.
Understanding Sunspots On Your Skin Is The First Step To Healing
Sunspots are messengers from your skin. They are a wake-up call that your skin needs more support and less sun exposure. They are communications from your skin about stress, sunlight, and time. When you shift your mindset from needing them to disappear overnight to implementing the right protocols your path to fading them begins.
The goal isn’t to scrub them away—it’s to create the right conditions for your skin to release them and recalibrate in a way that is more resilient.
Tragically, conventional ways of fading sunspots create skin that becomes less and less resilient until deep stubborn hyperpigmentation and aging take hold.
With the right support, sunspots can soften, fade, and even disappear entirely when the right action is taken immediately.
Your skin knows the way back to balance. Let’s help it get there. Begin The Regenerative Skin Process, then let go, be patient, and reap the benefits you have sown.
Ready to See Real Change in Your Skin?
Don’t let the confusion around fading pigment keep you stuck in cycles that don’t serve your skin. Sunspots are reversible when the right care is in place—and it starts with understanding, consistency, and trust in your body’s natural rhythm.
Start The Regenerative Skin Process today.
Explore our Dermal Nutrients, barrier-restoring moisturizers, and skin-supportive routines designed to truly fade sunspots from the inside out—without the trauma.
Have questions or want personalized guidance? Schedule a complimentary consultation for product recommendations or to learn more about the invisible UV-blocking serum that could be your skin’s new best friend.
About the author
I took many wrong turns when I started learning about skin at 19. The more I spent on skincare, equipment, and training, the further I felt from actually helping skin. I was frustrated with only being able to offer temporary and superficial solutions at best. What emerged from the disappointment and turmoil, I now call, The Regenerative Skin Process. Skin Harmonics is a dedicated medical fusion holistic skincare clinic that provides a root cause approach delivering lifetime skin health through medical grade skin care products, new learning, and Deep Pore Cleansing Facials.
