What Is a Skin Spot?

Spots on the skin are one of the main reason why a dermatologist or a cosmetologist is consulted, and in most cases, they represent a challenge at the time of selecting the treatment. Many of the spots can be solved satisfactorily with simply treatments using only creams; but there are a large majority that require more sophisticated treatments that we will discuss one at a time.
 
Before we talk about the treatments, it is important to know what is a spot. A skin spot, or a macula, is an alteration in the skin colour produced by diverse causes.
 
Knowing how to diagnose the different kinds of skin spots is the first step to achieve successful treatment and to avoid inadequate treatments that could have unnecessary consequences on the health of the person requesting the services. If you are noticing changes on your skin or the appearance of spots, visit your dermatologist to have a better diagnostic.
 
Spots come in different colours: white, red, brown, grey and black. There are some spots that are congenital and some that we acquire. There are spots that are caused by infection, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, chronic diseases and others that are caused by the sun, medication and even certain foods (for example, spots with an orange colour that appear on the plant of the foot and/or palm of the hand appear when we eat fruits or vegetables of an orange colour). Tattoos are spots caused by external agents.
 
In the cosmetology and medical/esthetic’s fields, the most common spots that are treated are melasma, lentigines (these are spots that appear with the sun and age), tattoos and the changes in the colour due to dilated veins in the face and chest. Each one of these types of skin spots have specific treatments. As I said at the beginning, we can use creams or select treatments such as chemical peels, pulsed light and different kinds of laser.
 
In a series of blogs over the coming weeks, I will discuss each type of skin spot and their treatments.
 
IN OUR NEXT BLOG WE WILL DISCUSS: Different types of brown spots