--- title: "Sun Damage" --- People say sun damage as though it were a single thing. It is at least four, and they arrived together because they share a cause rather than because they are the same condition. Which of the four you actually have decides everything that follows, and most people have some of all of them. **The brown.** Sun spots and age spots. Flat, tan to dark brown, with clear edges, across the face, chest, shoulders, forearms and the backs of the hands. If instead of separate spots you have [a soft symmetrical patch across the cheeks](/conditions/melasma/) or upper lip, that is a different condition with a different plan. **The red.** A general flush across the nose, cheeks and upper chest, plus the fine broken veins you can pick out when you look closely at the sides of the nose. **The rough.** Dry, coarse, uneven skin and pores that look larger than they used to. Sometimes [rough, scaly patches](/conditions/actinic-keratosis/) that catch on a towel and come back after they flake off. **Those are a separate matter entirely and they get examined rather than polished over.** **The lined.** Fine lines, deeper wrinkles, crepey skin and a jawline that has softened, because years of ultraviolet light wore down the support underneath. Because it is four concerns, it is treated in categories rather than with one thing. Pigment, surface redness, texture and [lines that stay when your face is still](/conditions/wrinkles-and-fine-lines/) each respond to a different family of in-office treatment, with prescription-strength skin care and daily sun protection sitting underneath all of them. Which combination fits depends on how much of each you have and on your skin. The chips above are where each of those goes. Here is a comparison you can run right now, and it settles the question better than any before-and-after photograph. Look at the skin on the inside of your upper arm. Then look at the back of your hand, or your forearm, or your chest. **Same person. Same age. Same genes. Same diet, same sleep, same everything.** The only meaningful difference between those two patches of skin is how much light they have taken over your lifetime. Whatever gap you can see is not aging. It is exposure. What to compareProtected skin, inner upper armExposed skin, back of hand or chestColorEven, one tone throughoutScattered brown spots with clear edges, and a general unevennessTextureSmooth, fine surfaceCoarser, drier, with pores that read as largerFirmnessSprings back when you pinch itSlower to settle, and thinner to the touchLinesFew, and only where the skin foldsFine crosshatching that stays when the skin is stillRednessNone to speak ofBackground flush and fine visible vessels Two things follow from that. The first is that a good part of what people call looking older is not a fixed inheritance, which is why treatment works as well as it does. The second is more useful: **whatever the gap looks like today, protection from here changes how wide it is in ten years.** In a trial of 903 adults over four and a half years, the group asked to use sunscreen daily showed no detectable increase in skin aging, 24 percent less than the group who used it when they thought of it. [1] Broad spectrum, SPF 30 or higher, water resistant, applied before you go outside and reapplied every two hours out there. [2] That is the whole instruction, and it is the only part of this page you can start today. ![woman with sun damage on her face](https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/cd-sun-damage.webp) Sun-damaged skin is exactly where skin cancers turn up, so this is a face that gets a medical eye on it before anything cosmetic is planned. If something in the area needs [a skin check](/conditions/skin-cancer/) rather than a cosmetic plan, you are already in the right building. **Rough, scaly patches can be an early precancer, and they are examined rather than resurfaced over.** That order is not a preference. It is the correct sequence, and it is the practical difference between a dermatology practice and a treatment room. The second job is telling the four apart, and telling them apart from the things that imitate them. A soft brown patch across the cheeks is not a cluster of sun spots and behaves differently. Background redness can be flushing rather than sun. [Skin that has lost its firmness](/conditions/sagging-skin/) is not the same as skin that has lost its evenness. Sorting that out is the first ten minutes of the visit, and it decides everything after it. **This is a good conversation to have if:** - You have brown spots, background redness, rough texture or fine lines you would like improved - You have spent years outdoors on the Central Coast and your skin shows it - You want to know which of the four you actually have before you spend anything - Something has changed in your skin and you would like it looked at properly at the same time - You want a plan rather than a product **Bring it in first if:** - You have a rough or scaly patch that flakes and returns in the same place - A spot has changed in size, shape or color - You have a soft, symmetrical brown patch rather than separate spots There is no obligation attached to finding out. Some people come away with a course of treatment and some come away with a sunscreen recommendation and a plan to check back, and we will tell you plainly which one you are. Whatever you have done, the thing that decides how long it lasts is what happens on ordinary days afterward. **Worth doing** - Broad spectrum, SPF 30 or higher, water resistant, before you go outside and reapplied every two hours out there [2] - Every day, including the overcast ones, which on this coast is most of the point - A hat with a brim, which covers scalp, ears and nose at once - Sunglasses with UV protection, since the skin around the eyes shows it early - Treat the backs of your hands and your chest as part of your face, because they age on the same schedule **Worth knowing** - A tan is the injury showing rather than a defense against it, and tanning beds do the same thing indoors - Fog and cool air hide how strong the light is. The exposure lands regardless - A car window blocks some ultraviolet light and not all of it - Skin tone does not exempt anybody. On deeper tones sun damage shows more as uneven color than as lines - Anything rough, scaly or changing gets looked at rather than treated cosmetically Pigment, redness, texture and lines each have their own route, with daily protection underneath all of them. Pick a treatment to see how it works. What a plan costs depends entirely on which of the four you are treating and how much of each. That is worked out at the consultation, where you get a plan and the cost of it before anything is booked. **Q: Can sun damage be undone, or is it permanent?** A lot of what you can see can be improved, and the underlying wear does not reverse. Color, surface redness, roughness and fine lines all respond to treatment. What happened to the structure deeper down stays, which is why protection from here on changes the picture more than anything else does. **Q: Why do I have sun damage when I have never laid out to tan?** Because most of it came from ordinary days rather than deliberate ones. Commuting, errands, walking, gardening and standing outside at kids' games account for most people's lifetime total. Cool coastal air makes that worse rather than better, because it hides how strong the light is. **Q: Does sunscreen really prevent aging, or is that marketing?** It was actually tested. In a randomized trial, 903 adults were followed for four and a half years. The group asked to use sunscreen every day showed no detectable increase in skin aging over that period, 24 percent less than the group using it at their own discretion. [1] Broad spectrum, at least SPF 30, water resistant. [2] **Q: Does having a lot of sun damage mean I will get skin cancer?** Not on its own, and it does put you in the group worth checking. The same exposure that made the spots and the roughness is what raises the risk, so heavily sun-damaged skin is worth having looked at on a regular schedule rather than only when something worries you. That check happens here. **Q: I have rough, scaly patches as well as brown spots. Is that the same thing?** No. A flat brown spot is a color change. A patch you can feel, that flakes and comes back in the same place, is a texture change and it can be an early precancer. Rough, scaly patches live on the same skin as sun spots and they are a different conversation. Have those looked at. **Q: I have a soft brown patch across my cheeks. Is that sun damage?** Probably not, or not only. Separate spots with clear edges are usually sun spots. A soft symmetrical patch across the cheeks, forehead or upper lip behaves differently, is tied to hormones as well as light, and darkens with heat. Knowing which you have matters, because treating one as the other is how people end up frustrated. 1. Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. "Sunscreen and Prevention of Skin Aging: A Randomized Trial." Annals of Internal Medicine. 2013;158(11):781-790. Randomized, controlled, community-based intervention in 903 adults younger than 55, followed for four and a half years. States that "skin aging from baseline to the end of the trial was 24% less in the daily sunscreen group than in the discretionary sunscreen group (relative odds, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.59 to 0.98])" and that "the daily sunscreen group showed no detectable increase in skin aging after 4.5 years." PMID 23732711. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23732711/ · Peer-Reviewed Study 2. American Academy of Dermatology Association. "How to select a sunscreen." Broad spectrum, SPF 30 or higher, water resistant, applied before going outside and reapplied every two hours outdoors and after swimming or sweating. [https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/sun-protection/shade-clothing-sunscreen/how-to-select-sunscreen](https://www.aad.org/public/everyday-care/sun-protection/shade-clothing-sunscreen/how-to-select-sunscreen) · Medical Organization Content on this page is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Results vary with your skin, how much damage there is, which treatment you have and whether you keep up sun protection. Light and laser treatment carries risks including burns, blistering and lasting changes in skin color, and that risk is higher on deeper skin tones and on recently tanned skin. Rough or scaly spots are examined before any cosmetic resurfacing. Individual results may vary. Cosmetic consultations are $125, paid at booking and credited toward the cost of treatment. ```ld+json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "MedicalCondition", "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/#concern", "name": "Sun Damage", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/", "description": "Sun damage is everything years of light leave behind: brown spots, fine red veins, rough patches and lines. It looks like one problem and it is really four, which is why one treatment often improves part of a face and leaves the rest alone. Sorting o…", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "contentUrl": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/sun-damage-2x-2-1024x512.jpg", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "caption": "woman with sun damage on her face" }, "possibleTreatment": [ { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Chemical Peels", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/chemical-peels/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Clear + Brilliant®", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/clear-brilliant/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Collagen Boost", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/collagen-boost/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Heliocare®", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/heliocare/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "HydraFacial®", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/hydrafacial/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "IPL Photofacial", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/ipl-photofacial/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Photodynamic Therapy", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/photodynamic-therapy/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Potenza® RF Microneedling", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/potenza-rf-microneedling/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Skin Cancer Diagnosis", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/skin-cancer-diagnosis/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Skin Care Consultations", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/skin-care-consultations/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Skin Care Products", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/skin-care-products/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Smartskin®+ Laser Skin Resurfacing", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/smartskin-laser-skin-resurfacing/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "TempSure® Envi Skin Tightening", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/tempsure-envi-skin-tightening/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "ThreeForMe™ Photorejuvenation", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/threeforme-photorejuvenation/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "VBeam Photorejuvenation", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/vbeam-photorejuvenation/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "ZO® Skin Health", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/zo-skin-health/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "SkinPen® Microneedling", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/skinpen-microneedling/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "Préime NanoTap™ Nano-Infusion", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/preime-nanotap/" }, { "@type": "MedicalTherapy", "name": "PDRN Booster", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/treatments/pdrn-booster/" } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "MedicalWebPage", "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/#webpage", "name": "Sun Damage", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/#concern" }, "lastReviewed": "2026-08-01", "reviewedBy": { "@type": "Person", "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/providers/dr-christine-kilcline/#provider", "name": "Dr. Christine Kilcline", "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/providers/dr-christine-kilcline/" }, "mentions": [ { "@type": "MedicalCondition", "name": "Actinic keratosis", "sameAs": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q422225" } ], "about": [ { "@type": "MedicalSpecialty", "name": "Dermatology", "sameAs": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q171171" }, { "@type": "MedicalCondition", "name": "Photoaging", "sameAs": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3705873" } ], "speakable": { "@type": "SpeakableSpecification", "cssSelector": [ ".geo-summary" ] } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": { "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/", "@type": "WebSite", "name": "Home" } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Concerns", "item": { "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/", "@type": "CollectionPage", "name": "Concerns" } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sun Damage", "item": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/" } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Question", "name": "Sun Damage", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Sun damage is what years of ultraviolet light leave behind in the skin: brown spots, fine red veins, rough texture and lines. It behaves as four separate concerns rather than one, and most of it comes from ordinary daily exposure rather than deliberate tanning. Sun damage is assessed and treated at Coastal Dermatology + Aesthetics in San Luis Obispo." }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/#webpage" }, "url": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/conditions/sun-damage/" }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Review", "reviewBody": "Dr. Kilcline and her staff are amazing to work with...everyone is always so friendly!", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://coastaldermaesthetics.com/#organization", "name": "Coastal Dermatology + Aesthetics" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brittany M." }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": 5, "bestRating": 5 } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can sun damage be undone, or is it permanent?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "

A lot of what you can see can be improved, and the underlying wear does not reverse. Color, surface redness, roughness and fine lines all respond to treatment. What happened to the structure deeper down stays, which is why protection from here on changes the picture more than anything else does.

" } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why do I have sun damage when I have never laid out to tan?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "

Because most of it came from ordinary days rather than deliberate ones. Commuting, errands, walking, gardening and standing outside at kids' games account for most people's lifetime total. Cool coastal air makes that worse rather than better, because it hides how strong the light is.

" } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does sunscreen really prevent aging, or is that marketing?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "

It was actually tested. In a randomized trial, 903 adults were followed for four and a half years. The group asked to use sunscreen every day showed no detectable increase in skin aging over that period, 24 percent less than the group using it at their own discretion. [1] Broad spectrum, at least SPF 30, water resistant. [2]

" } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Does having a lot of sun damage mean I will get skin cancer?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "

Not on its own, and it does put you in the group worth checking. The same exposure that made the spots and the roughness is what raises the risk, so heavily sun-damaged skin is worth having looked at on a regular schedule rather than only when something worries you. That check happens here.

" } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "I have rough, scaly patches as well as brown spots. Is that the same thing?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "

No. A flat brown spot is a color change. A patch you can feel, that flakes and comes back in the same place, is a texture change and it can be an early precancer. Rough, scaly patches live on the same skin as sun spots and they are a different conversation. Have those looked at.

" } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "I have a soft brown patch across my cheeks. Is that sun damage?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "

Probably not, or not only. Separate spots with clear edges are usually sun spots. A soft symmetrical patch across the cheeks, forehead or upper lip behaves differently, is tied to hormones as well as light, and darkens with heat. Knowing which you have matters, because treating one as the other is how people end up frustrated.

" } } ] } ] } ```