Freckles are flat, circular, brown spots usually found along the cheeks, nose and arms particularly after continued exposure to the sun.
They are nothing but �lumps? of melanin along the skin caused due to uneven distribution of the coloring pigment.
Different people can get freckles of different colors- yellow, tan, reddish, brown or black. However, freckles on any one person are usually of a uniform color. It is rare to come across ONE person with freckles of various colors. Freckles are usually a shade or two darker than the skin of the adjoining area.
Most freckles are the size of a pin head or the head of a nail, though some might be slightly larger.
Freckles of various sizes along the face
After knowing what are freckles, a person would want to know why he/she is more likely to get them than others.
Read on to know more.
Where can you get freckles?
Freckles are most common along the parts of the body that are exposed to the sun, namely the face, legs and arms.
Freckles along the arms
Who can get freckles?
Since every person does not develop freckles after prolonged sun exposure, one might want to ask who can get freckles. Freckles are more commonly seen among light skinned or fair complexioned people. Such people can get freckles on their cheeks, on and around the nose, the chest, back, shoulders and arms.
This is not to suggest that people with darker complexions cannot get any freckles at all. Prolonged exposure to the sun may cause freckles to appear along a darker skin as well.
People who have a tendency to develop freckles might start developing them during early childhood. Kids as young as one or two years of age have also been known to get freckles.
What causes freckles?
Freckles are basically caused due to uneven distribution of the coloring material of the skin called the melanin beneath the surface of the skin.
The two basic underlying causes of freckles are:
1. 1. Exposure to sun, and
2. 2. Genetic tendency.
Both these factors work together to determine whether a person will determine freckles. And if the answer is in the affirmative, they will together determine the extent to which he/she will be affected.
Whenever skin is exposed to ultraviolet rays (whether from the sun or from artificial suntanning lights), the outermost layer of the skin (called the epidermis) thickens and the pigment producing cells present in this layer start producing the coloring material of the skin (called the melanin) at an increased rate.
UV rays cause damage to the skin
Now, two persons with a similar skin tone and same exposure to the sun might not be at equal risk of developing freckles, because they have a different genetic structure.
Again, the skin of every person is not equally susceptible to sun damage due to difference in melanin metabolism.
The various factors responsible for causing factors work in tandem and collectively determine whether a person will develop any freckles and how badly he will be hit by them.
We hope our readers now know what are freckles, who can get freckles and what causes freckles.