I know, the terms that people out there bandy about are so depressing. "Age spots" makes me think of these crinkled-up leathery old ladies in sunny areas that have never seen a drop of sunblock in their life LOL! Actually, they're sun spots, since that accounts for most of what they come from. Although some alternative practitioners also put it forth that they result from unhealthy fats present in the body being drawn to the skin's surface by the sun. Some people say that when they radically change their diet to a largely raw food one, their skin improves, including their sun tolerance to begin with. But everyone is different in their responses to anything with skin.
What also peeves me out is the blithe advice "the best way to prevent sun spots is not to get them in the first place" which doesn't do us older women any good. More about that in a minute! That might be fine for someone young because they haven't accumulated the damage yet. For a young woman, just getting onto the sunblock habit right now is all she'll need for a very long time as her anti-aging arsenal as it's the best preventative bet.
I have them too, and I have the unfortunate combo of this, plus reactive skin that rules out a lot of perfectly decent anti-aging, skin tone-evening products. However, if I got wind of something effective that would work for my skin type that I could half-way afford, I'd be on it LOL!
If it weren't for sun spots, my skin would actually look pretty good as it still has a little bit of oil(although not much now)making it slower to wrinkle, plus it is still reasonably tight at age 64. My jawline is still defined and I don't have all that much sagging, really. It's the &%* sun spots - ugh! Makeup only does so much - if one uses enough to cover the spots, it's too much for rest of the face. In this case, spot concealer can help, if one doesn't have too many spots that is.
Best of luck - I totally know how this feels. Like you, I look better with some color, since that tends to blend them in. That's the problem with getting onto skin care and sunblock for us - since the rest of the skin fades out from no sun, the remaining spots stand out, making our skin look WORSE than before we started up with the sunblock.
Even dermatologists tell our age group not to beat ourselves up - sunblock of any sort basically really wasn't around until the 80's and the higher SPFs required to really protect our faces and give the spots a chance to at least not get any darker weren't around until fairly recently(like the last 10-15 years at most). However, as first line of defense no matter whether one seeks out treatments or not, is sunblock, every day, no matter what the weather and whether one is going out or not. A broad-brimmed hat also. One medical esthetician told me that if I did NOTHING else, at least get onto a good sunblock for the rest of my life. Since I have somewhat reactive skin, finding a decent facial one was really challenging at the very least. But I do have one that I like now, the CosMedix Reflect SPF 30 which is titanium dioxide, a physical block.
If you do seek out treatment, the gold standard is generally some combo of skin lightener like Rx-strength hydroquinone, a Rx retinoid, and glycolic acid. Needless to say, at medical levels this is pretty strong and might not be for everyone - it depends on how tough a skin one has. Some people however have gotten results with OTC stuff although that route can take a very long time and not eliminate them entirely. Often the best-case scenario with using OTC products is somewhat fading the spots. There are a number of hydroquinone alternatives, since often this is contra-indicated for sensitive skin types. Look for ingredients that are near the top of the list in a product, like kojic acid, arbutin, mulberry, licorice. The combo of glucosamine and niacinamide is a newer and promising one. What counts is what finally works which ever route one takes.
Anyhow - hope this helps!
