If your idea of a vacation is a long day at the shore, you may have experienced some changes in your skin tone with the passing of the years. What are those strange, freckle-like spots that appear on the skin after sun bathing? You might be one of the millions of Americans over 40 years old who begin to develop 'age spots'.

If you want to be able to work toward treatment options, you need to know exactly how and why these markings occur. Read on to inform yourself about how to identify and treat these skin pigmentations.

What's the difference between age spots, sun spots and liver spots?

It's easy to get confused about sun spots, age spots and liver spots because these terms are just different ways to refer to the same thing. No matter what name you give them, age spots cause the skin to appear damaged and years older than it is, making skin rejuvenation programs and creams to fade age spots a must.

What are the primary characteristics?

Liver spots, sun spots or age spots are small freckle-like spots, usually brown or redish, that are most commonly found on exposed areas of the body like the face, hands and shoulders. Sun spots can also range in color - from light brown to red or even black, depending on skin tone and level of exposure to the sun. Age spots are a simple change in pigmentation caused by the damaging effects of the sun.

How can I rejuvenate my sun-spotted skin?

Sun and age spots are mostly removed using simple but expensive medical and cosmetic procedures, or special aging skin care products. People who are concerned about the look and feel of their skin may want to look into the various ways of rejuvenating skin that has experienced sun damage. Among the most common age spot remover techniques list: Laser Surgery, Microdermabrasion, Chemical Peels and Bleaching Creams.

What makes sun spots occur?

Sun spots are a result of skin sun damage. Over-pigmentation occurs when the skin's melanocytes - cells located in the epidermis - begin to produce pigments in excess, following too much sun. Melanocytes are responsible for the pigment production leading to the darkening of sun-exposed skin that we normally refer to as a tan.

The problem occurs when melanocytes act up and make an excess amount of the melanin pigment. The melanin excess then causes the brown or red spots we know as sun spots, often leading to melasma as well.

The good news is that the majority of sun spots pose no health threat at all; concerns about them are primarily cosmetic. However, average person's eye cannot distinguish skin cancer from harmless dark spots. It is extremely important that you see a skin specialist in order to verify that none of your sun spots are cancerous.