A common question since we live in the Valley of the Sun; “What’s the fastest way to get rid of my age spots?” Someone will point to a brown patch on their cheek or the back of their hand and just want a straight answer. So here it is, as honestly as I can put it.
There’s no single treatment that erases decades of sun exposure in one visit. I wish I could tell you otherwise. But there is a way to get there faster than most people expect, and it comes down to combining the right treatments with consistent skincare and a little patience.
Why Those Spots Showed Up in the First Place
Age spots — sun spots, brown spots, dark spots, whatever you want to call them — are the result of years of UV exposure slowly building pigment in the skin. Most people don’t even notice until their 40s or 50s, when suddenly it feels like the spots appeared overnight. They didn’t. They’ve been quietly forming for a long time.
Here’s how I like to explain it to clients: if it took twenty years for the sun to do this damage, it’s not realistic to expect one facial to undo it. That’s not bad news, though. It just means going in with the right expectations, so you’re not disappointed three weeks into a plan that’s actually working exactly as it should.
We Always Start With a Real Conversation
I never jump straight to recommending a treatment when someone comes in wanting to deal with sun damage. First, we talk.
I want to know about your current skincare routine, how much time you actually spend outdoors, whether sunscreen is already part of your day, and — just as importantly — what you’re willing to keep up with at home. Some people are getting ready for an event and want the fastest visible change possible. Others are in it for the long haul, ready to slowly reverse years of damage. Both are valid goals, and they call for different plans.
Once I understand where you’re starting from and what you actually want, we build something that fits your life, not a generic checklist.
The Treatments That Actually Move the Needle
In my experience, the clients who see the biggest changes are almost never the ones who pick a single treatment and stop there. It’s the combination that does the real work.
VI Peels
VI Peels are one of my go-to recommendations. They work by encouraging the damaged outer layers of skin to peel away, making room for fresher, healthier skin underneath. Done as a series, they can noticeably fade age spots while brightening your whole complexion in the process. Bonus, our VI Peels include a Precision Plus booster which specifically targets pigmentation making it a favorite option for dealing with sun spots.
is Clinical Prodigy Peel
Prodigy Peels are another strong option, particularly for pigmentation. They help even out skin tone and support healthier skin over time, and I often use them alongside or in place of a VI Peel depending on what someone’s skin needs.
IPL (Intense Pulsed Light Therapy) Photofacial
IPL Photofacial tends to be the fastest route for visible sun spots, and it’s usually the first thing I mention when someone wants quick results. Intense Pulsed Light Therapy targets the excess pigment sitting beneath the surface. In the days after treatment, spots typically darken before flaking away naturally. Most clients start noticing a real difference after just a couple of sessions.
Microneedling and PRP Microneedling
Microneedling with PRP isn’t built to target pigment directly the way IPL is, but I still love it as part of a bigger plan. It stimulates your skin’s own repair process, which improves texture and tone in a way that supports everything else you’re doing.
Skincare
And then there’s skincare — which honestly might matter more than people give it credit for. I regularly recommend iS Clinical’s Brightening Complex and Super Serum, along with either the Active Peel Pads or Brightening Peel Pads, plus a solid daily sunscreen like Eminence SPF or Neova SPF. Your at-home routine is quietly doing a lot of the heavy lifting between office visits.
Why Combining Treatments Gets You There Faster
If I’m building an ideal plan, it usually looks something like this:
- A series of VI Peels
- Microneedling sessions
- Regular facials with dermaplaning worked in between
- Professional brightening skincare at home
- Daily sunscreen, without exception
Each piece builds on the last. You’re not betting everything on one procedure — you’re chipping away at the problem from several directions at once, which is exactly why this approach consistently outperforms the “one and done” mindset.
My Own Sun Damage Story
I’ll tell you about my own skin, because it’s honestly one of my favorite examples.
At 43, I’d just finished my AviClear treatments and had clear skin for the first time in years. But underneath that, I was staring down more than four decades of sun damage — including years spent as a teenage lifeguard, which I now recognize was not exactly making the best choices for my skin.
There was a lot to undo, and I knew it wouldn’t happen quickly.
Over the course of about a year, I worked through four VI Peels, two microneedling treatments, regular facials with dermaplaning in between, and a daily routine of iS Clinical Super Serum, Active Peel Pads, and Neova SPF without fail.
What actually made the difference wasn’t any single treatment — it was showing up every four to six weeks and not skipping the dermaplaning sessions in between. That consistency is the whole story. Now, my before-and-after photos are some of my proudest, because they’re proof of what’s possible when you actually stick with a plan instead of hopping between one-off treatments.
No Two Clients Look the Same
One of my clients is out on the golf course constantly. Like a lot of golfers here in Arizona, she’d developed noticeable sun spots across her cheeks and temples. She wore a hat, sure, but sunscreen wasn’t really part of her routine yet.
Rather than ask her to overhaul her whole lifestyle, we worked with it. Since her golf schedule slows down during the hottest summer months, that’s when we started — three VI Peels paired with HydraFacial Radiance and dermaplaning between sessions, plus iS Clinical Super Serum. Eventually we found her a sunscreen she actually liked wearing, Neova DNA Repair Active SPF. By the time golf season picked back up, her skin already looked completely different. She still wears sunscreen daily now and comes in for a maintenance VI Peel about every six months.
Then there’s the client who only came in because his wife nudged him to do something about a few sun spots on his forehead and cheeks. He wanted the simplest possible plan — no interest in peels, no interest in microneedling. So we kept it straightforward: three IPL Photofacials and daily Neova sunscreen. After just two sessions, his spots were noticeably lighter. Now he comes back for quick IPL touch-ups whenever he wants, and he’s even started treating a few spots on his arms because, in his words, it’s just easy.
Two very different people, two very different plans — and both got real results because the plan actually matched how they live.
A Few Things People Tend to Get Wrong
There are a handful of misconceptions I find myself clearing up almost daily.
People often assume one treatment will wipe out years of sun damage. Others think that once their spots fade, sunscreen becomes optional. And some worry their treatment “failed” if new spots show up years down the road.
Here’s the truth: new sun exposure creates new damage, plain and simple. Treatments clear existing pigment, but they can’t protect you from what’s still to come. That’s exactly why sunscreen isn’t an afterthought in any plan I put together — it’s the foundation everything else sits on.
If I Could Give You One Piece of Advice
Commit to the plan. Show up for your appointments. Don’t skip the supportive facials in between. Use your skincare every single day, and actually wear your sunscreen.
Your esthetician wants to see your results just as much as you do — genuinely. There’s nothing quite like watching a client feel more confident looking in the mirror.
And in my experience, the people who trust the process and stay consistent almost always end up further ahead than the ones still searching for a shortcut.
Ready to Do Something About Your Sun Damage?
If you’re tired of covering age spots with makeup, or you’re just not sure which treatment makes sense for you, let’s talk it through. At Collab Medspa in Scottsdale, we build every plan around your skin, your lifestyle, and what you’re actually hoping to achieve — whether that’s VI Peels, IPL Photofacials, microneedling, the right skincare, or some combination of all of it. Let’s find the fastest path to skin you feel good in.
