If you look down right now onto your arms, do you notice anything weird?
For most — the answer is a simple no. It is just your wrist, hand and everything in between when you do your inspecting.
But if you do notice something odd — does the thing that stands out a freckle by chance?
Do not be alarmed but you are not alone.
Almost every woman has confirmed that they too also have a freckle on their wrist.
Okay — maybe not every woman but Twitter sure blew up after a woman named Aaryn Whitley tweeted out four pictures of women’s arms.
In the picture, each arm had a single freckle between their hands and their elbows.
The tweet then went viral and the world decided to show their own arm freckles and the response was eerie to say the least.
So what are freckles exactly? According to healthline – they can be harmless.
“Freckles are small brown spots on your skin, often in areas that get sun exposure. In most cases, freckles are harmless. They form as a result of overproduction of melanin, which is responsible for skin and hair color (pigmentation). Overall, freckles come from ultraviolet (UV) radiation stimulation.”
“There are two categories of freckles: ephelides and solar lentigines. Ephelides are the common type most people think of as freckles. Solar lentigines are dark patches of skin that develop during adulthood. This includes freckles, aging spots, and sunspots. The two types of freckles can look similar but differ in other ways such as their development.”
So how do you get freckles? Let us break it down.
“Ephelides: These freckles form as a result of sun exposure and sunburns. They can appear on anyone who doesn’t protect themselves from UV rays. They show up on your face, the back of your hands, and upper body. This type tends to be most common amongst people with lighter skin tones and hair color. People of Caucasian and Asian descent are more prone to ephelides. Solar letigines: Like ephelides, this type tends to appear in Caucasians and adults over 40 years old.”
And you have two factors to thank for that.
“The credit for freckles goes to both the natural environment and genetics. Your risk for burning can increase the incidence of freckles. In a studyTrusted Source of 523 middle-aged French women, two elements predicted the presence of freckles: frequent sunburns and a gene known as MC1R, which provides instructions for making melanin. But the gene doesn’t affect all individuals the same way. There are two type of melanin: pheomelanin and eumelanin.”
Are you overwhelmed yet? Don’t be.
Those people with skin produces pheomalanin are not protected from UV radiation and tend to have the following:
- red or blonde hair
- light skin
- freckles
- skin that tans poorly
And those people with more eumelanin tend to be protected from skin damage by UV and also have:
- brown or black hair
- darker skin
- skin that tans easily
So now that you are well versed in freckles — check those wrists, ladies!
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