Freckles caused by excess skin pigmentation, sun exposure

"People always comment on my freckles! What are freckles? How do people get tan?" asked Nikki Zarytsky, 11, a sixth-grader at Fremont School in Mundelein.

Babies don't have freckles, but lots of kids do. Freckles appear most frequently on kids who have light-colored skin. The flat darkish spots appear on faces and hands -- places where there's lots of sun exposure. Freckles are most often seen on kids whose parents had freckles when they were kids -- they are hereditary.

Freckles are caused by excess skin pigmentation -- that's skin coloring. They can also be caused by sun exposure, so they appear most often during the summer months.

The cell that creates a freckle is called melanocyte. It's located at the base of the top layer of the skin. To make a freckle, the melanocyte works overtime pumping out skin coloring called melanin.

Often it's the sun's ultraviolet light (UVA and UVB rays) that trigger the melanocyte to produce extra melanin. When UVA rays penetrate the skin, they are visible as a sun tan or, in some people, as freckles. The sun's UVB ultraviolet rays cause sunburn. While the visible damage may peel away, sun effects over time can sometimes result in skin cancer. Excess exposure to the sun's rays can weaken the immune system and cause melanoma -- the most serious form of skin cancer.

The older you get, the more likelihood that you will get a freckle. Age spots are a type of freckle that doesn't fade.

The best way to minimize freckles is to wear sunscreen or sun block.