Choosing the Right Skin-Lightening Product

There are literally thousands of different skin care products available today to fade uneven facial pigment and remove age spots.  Choosing the right skin-lightening product does not have to be confusing as long as you know what you are looking for.  Here are a few helpful guidelines for selecting age spot removal products.

The first thing to recognize is there are many different skin-lightening ingredients available and no one ingredient is best for all skin types.

Hydroquinone is perhaps one of the most widely known active ingredients for fading the appearance of facial hyperpigmentation.  Hydroquinone is commonly recommended for lighter- fair skin types to lighten the visible sun damage, liver or age spots.  Until recently doctors commonly prescribed 4% hydroquinine also called Aclaro to fade age spots and improve even skin tone, however new studies published by the FDA caution using hydroquinone in strengths greater than 2 percent.

Hydroquinone is also known to irritate skin causing temporary redness for some skin types, particularly darker skin tones. In dark skin the bleaching irritation can stimulate the skin to actually increase in darkness causing unevenness to appear more noticeable.

Bleaching solutions work by killing the melanin in hyper pigmented areas. Over time, this will lead to a fading of spots but not affect the natural color of the skin (meaning it will not lighten the skin beyond its genetically determined color).

When bleaching solutions are used it is imperative that you use a good sun block. Exposure to sunlight will kill the hydroquinone and render it useless.

For people with darker skin, hydroquinone alternatives are typically recommended, such as Kojic acid, and alpha hydroxy acids vitamin C and mandelic acid (derived from apples).  All of these ingredients aid in the acceleration of the fading brown age spots with little or no irritation.

Unlike vitamin C and mandelic acid, kojic acid is a non-alpha hydroxy acid, derived from a variety of different fungi and organic substances such as mushrooms and soy. Kojic Acid is known to be an effective lightening agent. Additional ingredients known to fade and remove uneven pigment and age spots include azelaic acid, and extracts of: bearberry, gooseberry licorice and/or mulberry.

Remember, the first thing to do in looking for a product to fade the appearance of brown spots and sun damage is to read the ingredient label to look for active ingredients known to fade age spots and improve even skin tone.  Knowing the names of skin lightening / bleaching agents is essential in buying skin care products best for your skin type and condition.

Read more on removing age spots.