Hyperpigmentation is a common, usually harmless condition in which patches of skin become darker in color than the normal surrounding skin. This darkening occurs when an excess of melanin, the brown pigment that produces normal skin color, forms deposits in the skin.
There are a couple of common causes—age spots on skin that is often exposed to the sun; melasma, often as a result from birth control hormones or pregnancy; and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, which happens after a pimple, bug bite, or other trauma to the skin once it heals and leaves a mark behind.
People think it’s going to fade—which it will do—but it won’t do that without scrubbing away the cells and working on it. And sometimes it’ll get darker before it gets lighter.
Prevention:
– Stop picking at your skin and don’t just apply sunscreen—remember to reapply every two hours.We have to be much more careful around heat, with the sun, with any type of extractions, or anything that could make a change in the epidermis.” Men have to be especially careful of ingrown hairs on their face and women with facial procedures. And as soon as you put a chemical lightener on your skin, you become a magnet for the sun. You have to wear a hat. Adding in an antioxidant or vitamin C serum doesn’t hurt either.
Treatment:
1) Hydroquinone and Kojic Acid: Bleaches lighten and fade darkened skin patches by slowing the production of melanin so those dark spots gradually fade to match normal skin coloration – and you can only use it for six weeks at a time, and then you have to get off of it.
2) Glycolic Acid and Vitamin A derivatives: These products work by gently exfoliating the upper-most layer of the skin and the dark marks with it.
3) Chemical Peels: For more serious cases, this process is recommended. In this treatment, a chemical solution is applied to the skin, which makes it “blister” and eventually peel off. The new skin is usually smoother and less wrinkled than the old skin.
