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Dermatologist Dr Isabelle Catoni explains:
Age spots are caused by sunlight hitting skin that is genetically predisposed to age spotting. There are skins that can take hours of sun exposure without spotting, and others that start to spot within a very short time. We're genetically programmed either to have or not to have age spots!
White skins with phototype 3 will have age spots from the age of 18 onwards, African skins with phototype 5 will never have them, and naturally dark skins with photoype 4 will have very few age spots.
If you're hardly ever exposed to the sun or if you expose yourself gradually, which isn't as harsh on your skin, age spots will appear later in life, at around the age of 60.
On the other hand, if you burn your shoulders regularly from the age of 4 or 5 because of a lack of protection, you'll have age spots at 20 if you've got phototype 3 skin.
Women in their 40s and 50s often have age spots on their face, neckline and hands. They weren't able to use total sun block as it didn't exist when they were young. From a young age, they haven't had adequate protection from the sun. It's too late to start using sun protection at 30-35! By this stage, the skin has already had too much sun exposure and age spots will appear.
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