• Question: How and why are freckles formed

    Asked by The exterminare to Eoin, Fiona, Ivor, Karl, Pattie on 5 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Eoin McEvoy

      Eoin McEvoy answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      Freckles are formed when the skin makes a pigment called melanin in small concentrated spots. Their purpose is to protect deeper layers of the skin from getting damaged by UV rays from the sun.

      Freckles are inherited. This means that not everyone will have freckles, and not everyone will have them in the same pattern.

    • Photo: Fiona Freeman

      Fiona Freeman answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      Freckles are formed by you exposing your skin to sunlight. The sunlight causes the skin cells to produce more of this thing called melanin which causes the cells to look darker or brown and form a freckle.

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