From Dark Spots To Crepey Skin, Here’s What Can Actually Be Done About Sun Damage

As we kick off summer, we'll be sharing our best advice for achieving Healthy Summer Skin—read all May long. Here’s to a summer of feeling good, living well, and keeping your skin safe under the sun.

Everytime I take a close look at the skin on my chest, I lament all those pool-side tanning sessions I put my body through during my teenage years. It was the early aughts and having a Laguna Beach-inspired bronze was a non-negotiable: Tanning beds in the winter, sunburns in the summer, and bronzer year round. We just didn’t think twice about what might happen decades later. 

And in my mid-thirties, the long-term consequences of all that UV damage has only just begun to surface. I know in the decades to come, it’s only going to become more and more evident. Hence, the regret.

I’m not alone in that realization. A 2023 survey found 46% of people aged 26 to 57 years regret their prior exposure to the sun. I can’t help but think that visible wrinkles, dark spots, and sagging skin have a lot to do with that—not even to mention the more serious consequences, like melanoma. 

The sun is a powerful thing. It supports mood, circadian rhythm, and vitamin D production. But when skin is left unprotected, that same exposure becomes one of the most significant drivers of premature aging and long-term damage.

Your skin is designed to act as a barrier, and it does that job well. One of its primary roles is protecting the body from ultraviolet (UV) radiation—absorbing the bulk of that exposure so deeper tissues don’t have to.

When UV rays hit the skin, the effects can be immediate. Sometimes that shows up as a visible burn. Other times, it looks like a tan, a cluster of freckles, or even visible veins.

When skin is younger, it’s often able to compensate. In your 20s, collagen production is still relatively high, cell turnover is efficient, and repair mechanisms are more robust—so the visible effects of damage are easier to mask. You might tan evenly, bounce back quickly from sun exposure, or not notice changes at all.

Over time, that balance shifts. Collagen production naturally declines, cellular repair slows, and the cumulative effects of repeated UV exposure begin to surface. What once looked like a harmless tan can reappear years later as pigmentation, fine lines, thinning skin, loss of firmness, or worse.

The most effective thing to do to protect against photo aging is comprehensive sun protection. That means daily sunscreen, being smart about your time in the sun, and wearing accessories, like hats and sun glasses. You don’t have to fix damage that wasn’t done in the first place! 

But this article is about addressing past damage—so the advice I’m going to give here is specifically focused on repair and reversal, rather than prevention. 

Dark spots (a.k.a. hyperpigmentation) are one of the most direct outcomes of UV exposure. When skin is hit with sunlight, melanocytes ramp up melanin production as a protective response. Over time—and with repeated exposure—that pigment becomes unevenly distributed, settling into spots that linger long after the tan fades.

UV exposure accelerates the breakdown of collagen and elastin while also depleting moisture levels, leaving skin more fragile in both function and appearance. This fragile appearance is often called “crepey skin,” as it resembles crepe paper. Crepey skin shows up as thin, finely wrinkled texture—often on the chest, under-eyes, or arms. 

Wrinkles form when UV exposure breaks down collagen faster than your body can replace it. Add in repetitive facial movement, gravity, and natural aging, and those lines begin to set more permanently. 

We may associate the sun with a glowy tan, but it can actually lead to dullness over time. Think: leathery texture, uneven tone, and a rough, lackluster finish. That’s because sun exposure slows down natural cell turnover, leading to a buildup of dead skin cells on the surface. The result is skin that looks flat, uneven, and less radiant.