# I'm getting harder to see
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 18, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193 "2025-04-18T22:13:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/1 "2025-04-18T22:13:19Z")
Aaaaccccckkkk!!
A nurse looked at my hand and said “Oh, hon, that sure is a large _age_ spot!”
I knew that discoloration was there. But I did NOT think _age_ spot. _Liver_ spot. Or, egads…I’M old!! Noooooo! Say it ain’t so.
Please.
So, true to my nature. I google it. I decide if there’s a _cure_.
Nope.
Seems not. You can get Vanishing cream.
Don’t vanish nothing.
It vanishes its expensive silky self right into my hand. And the bucks from my wallet.
So I plop the old credit card down, any whoo, for the _vanishing cream_. 1 oz. $49. (Cheap version, yeah I read the label, same as the $118. flavor). 'Cause I’m a dumbass.
It’s a giant misnomer in womens skin care products.
Why am I surprised? 🙄
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### Author:  [@Retzbu\_Tox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Retzbu_Tox)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/2 "2025-04-18T22:56:57Z")
I had a brown spot appear in the middle of my forehead a few years ago. it was about the size and shape of a thumbprint. It slowly got darker. My doctor was unconcerned about it. Then something weird happened, maybe coincidentally, maybe not. I got my first COVID vaccination and the spot got itchy. It became bumpy and raised up, then it faded away over several weeks. My doctor was rather dubious when I questioned if the immune system being kicked into high gear could erase an age spot.
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### Author:  [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/3 "2025-04-18T23:20:51Z")
You can effectively lighten skin with steroid cream, but it also damages your skin so you probably shouldn’t. Retinol can work too, but it made my hair fall out(!) I don’t think that’s a common side effect, however. I got the retinol from The Ordinary, which generally has cheaper products than pharmacies, or at least used to. I think it exists in America too, you can google it.
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/4 "2025-04-18T23:35:12Z")
I have a butt ton of freckles, and I will swear to the day I die that _all_ spots on me are freckles.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/5 "2025-04-18T23:37:48Z")
Thats it. Freckles.
I’m saved.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/6 "2025-04-18T23:39:30Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> It’s a giant misnomer in womens skin care products.
Do only women get age spots and need “vanishing” cream? (I really do not know…I thought men get them too.)
I would think some makeup cover-up might work. Probably a lot less expensive. Just don’t shake hands and smear it.
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### Author:  [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/7 "2025-04-18T23:41:05Z")
I’m here to help! 😊
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/8 "2025-04-18T23:42:25Z")
Well,no. But this cream was at the womens make up counter.
Marketed to women.
Didn’t see one man.
He can come there. I don’t care.
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/9 "2025-04-18T23:50:53Z")
It will come in handy if you’re ever [chased by a cat](https://youtu.be/zHwOoUJIG2Q).
But seriously, it’s called “vanishing cream” because the lotion itself is absorbed into the skin and “vanishes”, not because it is supposed to make anything on your skin vanish.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/10 "2025-04-18T23:54:51Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> I’m getting harder to see
According to the Beatles, that means you’re getting better looking. Particularly if you also groove slowly.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/11 "2025-04-18T23:57:17Z")
A quick Google suggested:
- Prescription creams with hydroquinone, retinoids, or corticosteroids
- Over-the-counter products containing ingredients like vitamin C, niacinamide, or alpha hydroxy acids
IANAD and I have NO experience if any of these are at all effective or have side effects or drug interactions. Maybe something to ask your doctor or pharmacist. There might be some medical procedures that help but that is definitely a discussion to have with your doctor.
No idea if any of it is worthwhile. Really best to discuss with a doctor.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/12 "2025-04-19T00:28:29Z")
I think from what I read, they are mostly harmless.
The Lil’wrekker suggested self tanner and careful application.
Ummm…probably not.
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### Author:  [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/13 "2025-04-19T00:31:57Z")
I have about 30 on my abdomen.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/14 "2025-04-19T00:32:52Z")
I know that.
But, I haz hopes 😊
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### Author:  [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/15 "2025-04-19T00:46:42Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> The Lil’wrekker suggested self tanner and careful application.
Well, that beats MY suggestion: dying the rest of you liver spot brown.
Both “liver spots” and “age spots” are horrible terms. What we need is a euphemism. Wisdom marks? Survivor spots? Beauty dots?
And let’s reframe the whole thing. “The only good thing about getting older is finally developing beauty dots!” Or maybe, “I read somewhere that sexy spots mean you’re good in bed.”
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/16 "2025-04-19T00:55:15Z")
I find that I’m not getting any more blemishes, but the normal everyday skin damage I get never seems to quite repair itself right. Like, I’ve got a spot near my right elbow, that I think started as a mosquito bite, a year and a half ago. It’s still a little scar there, that keeps growing out from the skin. Every so often I trim it down.
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### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/17 "2025-04-19T01:11:21Z")
There’s the joke about two nightclubs for senior citizens: “The Liver Spot” and the “Hip Joint”.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/18 "2025-04-19T02:21:55Z")
So I’m not the only one who immediately thought of that.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/19 "2025-04-19T02:42:08Z")
If I had hair “down to my knee” I’d have another beauty question.
😊
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### Author:  [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)
#### Post date: [April 20, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-harder-to-see/1017193/20 "2025-04-20T00:20:28Z")
I saw the title, and thought of a book I had as a child: [The Shrinking of Treehorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shrinking_of_Treehorn).
That’s all I got.