What is a brown mark or spot on my face?
Hyperpigmentation, Sun Damage, Age Spot, Uneven Skin Tone
Melanin producing cells which give the skin color are called "melanocytes" (me - la- no - sites) the majority are located in the bottom layer of the epidermis. The body's surface layer of skin is named the epidermis as thick as a silk scarf without blood vessels or nerve endings.
If you cut yourself and bleed you have gone through the epidermis into the dermal layer of the skin. These melanocyte cells spend their whole life giving your body it's natural color. A dead melanocyte cell leaves a pure white patch an over active one produces a darker color than the natural skin tone. An over active cell, unlike an over active child who may out grow the condition, remains touchy for life. Dr. Kligman, co-inventor of Retin-A, believes a brown sun spot will usually reappear after one year from "cell memory" leaving the patient on a continual maintenance program for control.
White and skin of color do not differ in the number of melanocyte cells but at the rate and abundance of melanin being produced. Darker skin types produce melanin (color) at a faster and more abundant rate, the plus being a great sun shield for aging, the minus sensitivity to injury. A mere bump on the leg, a hat or sun visor band on the forehead, rubbing the eyes from allergy produces brown marks from the fast acting melanocyte cells.
Hemosiderin (he•mo•sid•er•in) pigment derives the color from iron in the blood turning tissue a cooper, brownish-red color common in the lower legs after an injury or surgery. If the body can not naturally remove the pigment the discoloration or stain is permanent no known medical treatment is available.
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