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Brown Spots Be Gone

by Angela Keen

(KHNL) Island sunshine, hormones, age, and even pregnancy, it can all lead to an unsightly"skin problem known as brown spots or sun spots.

Now, a Honolulu doctor has a new treatment that promises to brighten your skin, and clear away those brown spots.

Kirsten Fujitani sits in the doctors office, ready for a life change. A mixture of sun and hormones caused brown spots or melasma to surface on her cheeks and forehead.

 "I had sun damage just from being on the beach with no sunscreen no sun block, nothing."

But she isn't going under the knife. Instead she's trying a new laser treatment to turn back the clock and clear the brown spots. This new laser treatment is called fraxel.

"The name fraxel is basically means it's a fractional laser" says Dr. Hugo Higa.

Dr. Higa says people with darker skin or Asian skin like Fujitani have a tough time clearing the spots, but he claims fraxel has worked wonders on his patients.

"The nice thing about the laser is that it not only treats Asian skin or white skin but it treats all forms of pigmentation" says Dr. Higa.

The laser picks up on a blue dye that's put on the skin, zapping the years of discoloration.

"It kind of feels like hot water, almost" says F ujitani.

She says it's even smoothed out age lines, in addition to fading her melasma.

"I'm pretty impressed with how this turned out so far."

She says clearing her skin  has put the focus on her smile instead of on her brown spots.

Dr. Higa says fraxel is working so well, patients are having their hands and even their neck and chest area treated. Some doctors are also using it to treat damage caused by stretch marks.