If you have lived on the Gold Coast for any length of time, your skin has a record of it. Pigmentation and sun damage are the most common concerns walking through the door, and the ones where getting the diagnosis right matters most, because the wrong treatment on the wrong type of pigmentation can set you back rather than help.
This guide covers what the sun does, the different types of pigmentation, and which treatments suit which. It is general information, not a treatment recommendation.
What does sun exposure actually do to skin?
Two things, on different timescales. Melanocytes, the cells that produce pigment, respond to ultraviolet light by making more melanin. That is a protective response, but over years it becomes uneven and clusters into visible spots and patches. Separately, UV degrades collagen and damages the walls of small blood vessels, which is why sun-damaged skin often shows both brown marks and persistent redness, alongside the loss of firmness covered in our guide to skin laxity.
Most of this accumulates quietly and surfaces later, which is why pigmentation often seems to appear suddenly in your forties from sun you got in your twenties.
The main types of pigmentation
- Solar lentigines (sun spots or age spots): flat, well-defined brown marks on sun-exposed areas. The most straightforward type to treat.
- Freckles: genetic, and they darken with sun exposure. Usually not treated, and often not wanted gone.
- Post-inflammatory pigmentation: brown or red marks left behind after inflammation such as acne. Covered in our guide to acne scarring, where the distinction between marks and true scarring matters.
- Melasma: larger, symmetrical, blotchy patches, often across the cheeks, forehead or upper lip. Frequently hormonal, and it behaves differently to everything else on this list.
- Vascular redness: not pigment at all, but visible small blood vessels and diffuse flushing. Treated on a different setting to brown pigment.
Why melasma needs to be identified first
Melasma is the reason a proper assessment matters. It sits deeper, it is driven by hormones as much as by sun, and crucially it is heat-sensitive. Aggressive light or heat-based treatment can worsen melasma rather than clear it, and it is prone to returning even after successful treatment.
Sun spots and melasma can look similar to an untrained eye and can appear together on the same face. That is why treatment starts with identifying what you actually have, not with booking a device.
What treatments help pigmentation and sun damage?
IPL skin rejuvenation
IPL uses broad-spectrum light that is absorbed by pigment and by haemoglobin in blood vessels. Treated spots typically darken over a few days and then flake away, and vascular redness fades. Because it addresses both brown and red in the same session, it is the usual first-line option for general sun damage, and it is one of the most requested treatments among clients from Mermaid Waters and across the coast. Suitability depends on your skin type and on ruling out melasma.
Skin resurfacing
NanoFrac resurfacing works on the surface and just below it to renew texture and tone. It suits sun damage where the problem is roughness and dullness as well as colour, and it is often introduced as a later step in a longer plan.
Combination and rejuvenation plans
Bibella and Tribella pair pigment and vascular work with resurfacing and tightening, which suits skin showing the full picture of sun damage rather than one isolated concern. A hydrating treatment is often included, since sun-damaged skin is frequently dehydrated as well.
The part that matters more than any treatment
Daily sun protection. Every treatment on this page clears pigment that ultraviolet exposure created, and without protection the same exposure simply creates it again. Results from pigmentation treatment hold well in people who protect their skin and fade in people who do not. That is not a sales line, it is the single biggest determinant of whether the money you spend stays spent.
Getting your pigmentation assessed
Niche Aesthetics is a registered nurse-led clinic in Worongary, a short drive from Robina, Mudgeeraba, Bundall and Mermaid Waters. Assessment comes first, because the treatment that clears sun spots is not the treatment that suits melasma.
This article is general information only and is not a treatment recommendation. Individual results vary. Suitability for any treatment is confirmed at a consultation with a registered nurse. Any new, changing or irregular pigmented spot should be checked by a doctor or skin cancer clinic, not treated cosmetically.