What are those white spots on your arms? #dermexplains #whatsonmyskin #guttatehypomelanosis

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:00]Those little white spots in your arms or even legs. No, it's not a fungus. And no, it's not vitiligo. What you're likely seeing is something we call idiopathic gutate hypomelanosis or what I like to call inverse freckles.

[00:00:11]Translation, they're small, harmless, white flat spots [music] that show up with sun exposure and age. Now, we don't fully understand exactly why this happens, but the two biggest risk factors are chronic [music] sun exposure and age. It happens in all skin types and is usually found on the arms and legs, but good news is it's totally benign. So, if you're [music] starting to notice these and they bother you, it's a sign that you probably need to do a better job protecting your skin from the sun. Whether that's more sunscreen or more physical protection like UPF clothing. Many patients ask me though, how do I get rid of it? I don't like it.

[00:00:42]Now, there are no great guaranteed treatments out there. Sometimes a little cryotherapy works, but there [music] are some case reports of using strong chemical peels on them individually or actually micronoline [music] chemotherapy cream into them as well, which is called Floros. Have you ever seen these before? Let me know in [music] the comments and follow me for more skin education like