Nothing’s wrong with freckles - I like them and think they can be cute, endearing, and give you a youthful appearance. However, I personally don’t want freckles on my face. Due to heredity, some people freckle extremely easily, while others don’t get freckles at all. When I go in the sun without sun protection, I get a band of freckles across my face. The reason I don’t want freckles is because they are a visual reminder that I’ve damaged my skin, and sun damage later leads to wrinkles, sun spots, and loss of collagen. Of course I’m more neurotic than most people about the sun, so I worry about things most people don’t think much about!

In the November 2007 issue of Vogue, there’s an article that could have been written by me - it’s called “Seasons In The Sun.” The author, Julia Chaplin, is vigilant about sun protection, but since she still likes to go to the beach and actually have fun outside, she worries that it’s not possible to completely protect your skin from photoaging and skin cancer. This, of course, is my worry, but I won’t let it keep me from having some fun outside! In the article, Julia gets Photo Facials to lighten her sun spots/freckles, and red broken capillaries. Her doctor also suggests using retinoids, and antioxidants, which I use daily. Reapplying sunblock at least once an hour is also crucial when you’re outside. Since I’ve found good sunblocks, I actually rarely freckle anymore. Even though I know I will inevitably get deeper wrinkles, despite my anti-aging proactive steps, I love it when I don’t see freckles in the mirror, because it’s visual proof that sun protection really does work.

Some people enjoy tanning, but don’t like the freckles they get from it. If you are prone to freckles, there’s no way to tan and not get freckles. Hopefully that knowledge will help you realize the only good type of tan is the one that comes out of a bottle of self-tanner! For lightening freckles, aside from daily use of sunblock, you can also apply lightening creams. However, since creams with lightening ingredients (like Hydroquinone) lighten your skin as a whole, I am not sure how well they’d work on a face full of freckles. From my observation, it appears that skin lighteners are more intended for larger sun spots that can be spot-treated. Daily use of a zinc-oxide sunblock, however, and avoidance of the sun, should significantly lighten freckles after a few months.