What is Freckles?
Freckles refer to a special type of skin pigmentation.
Causes of Freckles
In most cases, the disease is hereditary in nature and is transmitted from parents to offspring in an autosomal dominant manner. This means that all people who received a pathological gene are sick, carriers do not exist. Very frequent are the so-called family cases of the disease, when almost all its members are ill in the family. Many researchers consider freckles as a special kind of birthmark. Most often this disease occurs in red people and blondes, more rarely in fair-haired and brown-haired, it is practically not observed at all in brunettes. In accordance with another concept, freckles can be attributed to benign skin tumors.
Symptoms of Freckles
Freckles are small, from the size of millet grains to lentils, specks that are brownish or light yellow in color. They absolutely do not rise above the level of the skin, do not peel off. Usually on the skin, they are arranged symmetrically and look like scattered bread crumbs. The pathological process is located on the skin of the face, neck, chest, back, limbs, in the genital area. If there are a lot of rashes, they are located all over the body, merging with each other, resulting in very large foci of brownish-yellow color. Freckles occur when exposure to the skin of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Mostly they appear in spring and persist throughout the summer. The disease begins in children at 7-10 years of age. In the elderly, they become almost invisible and disappear. In the autumn and winter periods, the spots become more pale and may disappear altogether, but in spring they appear again. During rashes, the patient’s condition remains satisfactory, no subjective sensations are noted. The disease is not contagious, as it is not infectious, but hereditary in nature.
In the study of material taken from the patient, under a microscope a large accumulation of melanin pigment is found in the surface layers of the skin.
Diagnosing Freckles
The diagnosis of the disease in the clinic is quite simple, since the skin manifestations are characteristic. Similar spots are found in lentigo disease, but they are larger in size, slightly rising above the surface of healthy skin, most often have a bluish or dark color. In the so-called Peutz-Jagers syndrome, hyperpigmentation spots on the skin may also appear, but they are large and irregular, most bizarre outlines, their color is darker than freckles, sometimes it is completely black. In this case, the formations are located in the mouth area. Skin manifestations in this syndrome are combined with disorders of the digestive system: multiple intestinal polyps, intestinal obstruction.
Freckle Treatment
In order to eliminate skin manifestations with freckles, fairly simple methods are used. Used techniques fast or slow exfoliation. The patient is prescribed mercury ointments of various concentrations, starting with the minimum and constantly increasing it. Before you apply these methods of therapy, you must first conduct a test.
It consists in applying a thin layer of ointment to healthy skin. Then a bandage is applied on this place, which is removed after a day. If the skin does not show redness, then you can begin a full treatment. There are special solutions for application to the skin, the purpose of which is to quickly exfoliate its upper layers. Special soaps, night masks are used. Application of various drugs to the skin is also used. To do this, the solution is applied to a napkin, which is applied to the skin and covered with a layer of wax paper on top. Such a compress is left on the patient’s skin for a certain time, depending on its individual sensitivity.
If the application is held for too long a reddening, swelling may occur. Sometimes a small first-degree burn may develop. The next day, these places begin to be covered with films of brownish color. Subsequently they disappear, the freckles on this place completely disappear. Cicatricial changes in the field of the procedures never remains. The entire course of therapy should include from 3 to 10 applications. When localization of lesions in the region of the palpebral fissures, the corners of the mouth, the application cannot be performed. In this case, cauterization of the lesions is performed using a cotton swab, which is wound on a stick and moistened with various cauterizing substances. To speed up the process of falling off of the films and crusts after the applications performed, the lesions are lubricated with special creams.
Freckle Prevention
Persons suffering from this disease should go out in the spring and summer only after pre-lubricating the skin with special photoprotective creams. Special cleansing creams are also used at night. Instead, they can be used and solutions of drugs.