Here are the signs of sun-induced skin damage:
1. Sun spots, freckles and brown spots – these are most commonly found on the upper body, appearing on the face, neck, chest, the forearms and the hands. These spots can be unsightly, but can fairly easily be removed with the correct cosmetic treatment. Some home treatments are available, but they are less than reliable and may cause more harm than good.
2. Uneven skin colour or dark spots – confidence sapping skin colouring might seem like damage that can’t be undone, but these days they can be treated with a safe non-invasive course of IPL.
3. Explosion of Freckles – Okay, we’re not talking about a few freckles, but excessive clusters of highly visible embarrassing freckles that cover the skin and make you feel very self-conscious. IPL laser treatment would be exceptionally useful to fight this as it not only removes the brown spots but also stimulates collagen growth.
4. Age Spots – these are also known as Liver spots and are generally found on the backs of the hands. A qualified cosmetic physician would offer a number of ways that these can be reduced or removed, usually with IPL or fraction lasers .
5. Rosacea – This can be a very embarrassing condition that is comprised of prominent redness, veins in the face showing and often spots or pimples long after adolescence. An IPL/laser treatment will greatly reduce the veins and the flushing that is caused by exercise, hot food or heat.
The sun can easily make existing wrinkles worse
6. Wrinkles – The sun can easily cause wrinkles or make existing wrinkles worse. There are many ways to approach the reduction of wrinkles, there are many skin creams available from pharmacists, but most are purely superficial and do little to help. A professional cosmetic physician can offer you a range of collagen boosting options from Botox and dermal fillers to resurfacing laser treatment and other complementary cosmeceutical skin care programmes.
7. Broken capillaries – often giving the face a ruddy complexion, associated with alcoholism, very embarrassing, particularly for women. Speak to your cosmetic specialist for ways to treat this problem, usually with ND:YAG laser or IPL .
8. Enlarged pore size – many people don’t think about how the sun can widen and enlarge the pores in your skin, giving a quite unsightly appearance to the skin, a little like an orange peel. Your cosmetic physician would almost certainly offer you an excellent range of treatments including laser skin resurfacing to bring a youthful look back to your skin.
Sagging skin is more often found in women of middle age
9. Sagging skin – after the sun has damaged your skin, you may find that it causes your lifeless skin to sag. This is common in people as they hit their 30s but is more often found in women of middle age. With a non-surgical, non-invasive cosmetic treatment, you can improve the tautness of the skin and give it a rejuvenated appearance.

Dr Ravi Jain is Medical Director at Riverbanks Clinic, a double award-winning cosmetic medical practice based in Harpenden, Herts UK, where he provides a number of treatments including facial recontouring and body
recontouring. Dr Jain’s Clinic is renowned for its excellence and won ‘Best New Clinic’ and ‘Best Business Development’ in the 2009 Aesthetic Medicine Awards. Dr Ravi Jain qualified from the Royal London Hospital
in 1995 and has since held posts at The Royal London, St. Bartholomew’sand St. Mary’Hospitals. Early in his career he trained in gynaecologicallaparoscopic surgery before training as a GP. He now specialisesexclusively in cosmetic dermatology and minor surgery.
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