It’s one of the most ubiquitous skin concerns out there. It equally affects folks of all ages, genders, skin types, and tones. It can come as a result of sun, acne, injury, in-growns, internal inflammation, age, and a myriad of other triggers. It can take months, and sometimes even years, to treat. It can show up anywhere and all over, from the face to body. The appearance can be big to small, mild to severe.
I’m talking about dark spots. And if you’ve dealt with them, you know just how frustrating they can be.
“Dark spots are often the result of a grouping of cells within the skin that overproduce the pigment melanin,” board-certified dermatologist and YouTube creator Andrea Suarez, M.D., FAAD, tells mindbodygreen about dark spots. Within the skin there are melanocytes, which are the cells responsible for producing pigment in the skin. When our skin is inflamed—be that from UV radiation, acne, hormones, or something else—it stimulates these melanocytes1 to create more pigment.
Treating them usually involves some combination of increasing skin cell turnover at the surface (to fade the appearance), fighting inflammation and free radicals through antioxidants (to ease the trigger), and addressing the overproduction of pigment (targeting the root cause).
The below products use these mechanisms, which is why they’re so effective at addressing dark spots. Consider these the smartest and most sophisticated formulas out there—tested and vetted by us.
