Skin spots: why you should check them in autumn
Video in Spanish · subtitles available
After summer, many spots become more visible and new ones appear. In this video, I explain why autumn is a good time to have them reviewed and, above all, why a spot is not a diagnosis: first you need to identify it, and only then decide on treatment.
During summer, ultraviolet radiation stimulates melanin and makes spots more visible; as autumn arrives, the intensity of the sun and our exposure to it decrease, which makes it easier to assess the skin and, when indicated, to evaluate certain treatments.
But a brown spot on the face, décolletage or hands is not always the same thing: it may be a solar lentigo, melasma, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, a seborrhoeic keratosis, or a pigmented lesion that should be studied before any procedure is carried out. That is why there is no single laser, peel or depigmenting agent that works for all of them: what works on a lentigo may worsen melasma, and applying overly aggressive treatments can darken the spot even further.
The rule is simple: first we diagnose the spot, then we decide how to treat it — never the other way around. If after summer you have noticed new spots or changes, autumn is a good time to have them reviewed. This is general information; your individual case must be assessed by a healthcare professional.
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Doctor Florian A. Vallecillo Cabrera
The doctor on video
Informational content by Doctor Florian A. Vallecillo Cabrera. It does not replace an in-person consultation or an individual diagnosis.
