Are Freckles On Your Hands A Sign Of Aging? Here's What Derms Had To Say About It

You can tell a lot about how your skin is aging by looking at your hands. The reason why is twofold. The first is that this area of the body is exposed to a lot of potentially damaging and aging stressors—such as UV exposure, pollution, irritating substances, and physical wear. The second is that we tend not to care for the skin on the hands with the same diligence we do for the face, so it tends to show signs of damage much earlier. 

This is why the hands are often the first area of the body to see dark spots, thinning skin, crepiness, and wrinkles. One underrated sign of aging that folks often overlook? Freckles. 

Freckles are technically a type of sun spot. When your skin experiences inflammation from UV radiation, it triggers melanocytes to produce pigment (or melanin). Sometimes these melanocytes can trip into overdrive, and this is what causes pigmentation concerns. 

But that overproduction can look a bit different depending on the person: For some people, it's melasma patches. For others, it's hyperpigmentation and dark spots. And for those genetically predisposed to them, it can also show up as freckles.

According to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, only participants with a genetic predisposition to freckling were able to produce freckles when exposing their skin to high amounts of UV. This is true of both fair- and darker-skinned individuals—it depends on your genetics, not necessarily your skin tone. 

And while freckles are cute, they are a signal from the body that UV exposure has occurred. As board-certified dermatologist Keira Barr, M.D., previously told us, "Those freckles may conjure up good memories of a fun vacation, but make no mistake of what they really are: evidence that your skin was unprotected in the sun and putting your skin and DNA in harm's way."

Since freckles are sun damage, you should deal with them the same way you might deal with other forms of sun damage. 

The first thing to do is to level up your sun protection: Wear sunscreen on all areas of skin that are exposed to UV radiation. (Tip: When applying sunscreen to your face, take an extra two seconds and apply a layer to the back of your hands.) Then when outdoors for extended periods of time, be sure to reapply as needed to ensure the skin is protected all day.

It uses a combination of botanicals known for their moisturization and conditioning properties, such as shea butter, moringa seed oil, aloe vera, and oat oil. We wanted moisturizers that were going to instantly calm irritated skin and leave them feeling soft. 

As for addressing the needs of aging skin, it's infused with special biotech pre- and postbiotics which are shown to improve skin firmness, help with wrinkle prevention and reduction, as well as support epidermis framework regeneration.

Some folks are genetically predisposed to freckles (myself included!). And while they're certainly cute, they're unfortunately a sign of UV radiation. They often show up on the hands because this area of the skin is exposed to the sun more frequently—and we're usually not as diligent with skin care here either.