Years of Australian sun leave their mark — age spots, sun spots, freckles and patches of pigmentation. The great majority are completely harmless. But because a few skin cancers can hide among them, it is worth knowing which pigmented spots deserve a closer look. If one is on your mind, start with a free AI skin check.
The common harmless marks
- Age spots and sun spots (solar lentigines) — flat, tan-to-brown patches on sun-exposed skin.
- Freckles — small, often fading in winter.
- Melasma — larger patches of pigmentation, often on the face, common in pregnancy or with hormones.
When a pigmented spot is worth checking
Have a pigmented spot reviewed if it is changing, has uneven or several colours, an irregular border, or stands out from your other spots. A slowly growing, uneven brown patch on the face of an older adult can be an early melanoma (lentigo maligna) and should not be dismissed as “just a sun spot”.
Health and appearance
Protecting your skin from UV is the single best thing you can do for both — it lowers your skin-cancer risk and slows the pigmentation and ageing that sun causes. If you are thinking about treating pigmentation cosmetically, the safest first step is to have a doctor confirm the spot is benign.
Two ways to look after sun-damaged skin
Sun damage is two things at once — a small skin-cancer risk to stay on top of, and the pigmentation and ageing you might want to improve. You can start on either, free:
| What’s on your mind | Start free | If you want more |
|---|---|---|
| Is this spot anything? | Free AI skin check → | A doctor reviews your photo |
| Document pigmentation or sun-damaged skin | See photo monitoring → | A connected photo record over time; not a diagnosis or treatment |
Not a diagnosis; cannot rule cancer in or out.