What Is Hyperpigmentation And How Can It Be Treated?
Hi, Emma here from Lumiere Medispa in Oxford,
This year we have had a long beautiful summer and have seen one of the hottest days on record. Covid restrictions have also been lifted and travel to far-flung destinations has been a must for lots of us. It won’t be a surprise to hear that enjoying all this sunny weather, we have seen an increase in facial sun damage - also called Hyperpigmentation and Melasma.
As the weather has now turned, it is the ideal time to tackle any stubborn pigment marks that may have come out, so I’ve created this journal post for you to find out more.
I will cover:
What is Hyperpigmentation and Melasma
What Causes Hyperpigmentation and Melasma
How to prevent Hyperpigmentation and Melasma
how to treat Hyperpigmentation and Melasma and prevent it from coming back
What is Hyperpigmentation?
Hyperpigmentation is the umbrella term for those dark spots on your skin that are caused by an increase in melanin. Melanin is the natural pigment that gives our skin, hair, and eyes their colour. Hyperpigmentation on the face and neck is usually a harmless skin condition that is characterized by the excess production of Melanin. When skin cells are damaged or unhealthy, they can produce too much melanin. The melanin can collect within the epidermis (upper skin cells), causing that area to appear darker.
A number of factors can trigger an increase in melanin production, but the main ones are:
Age
Your skin becomes thinner over time and is unable to protect itself as effectively from the sun and environment.
Sun exposure
When your skin is exposed to the sun the melanocytes (Pigment producing cells) in the skin are activated to create melanin and absorb harmful UV rays. This is why we get a sun tan when we are in the sun. However, it can only do this so much before the melanocytes become dysfunctional and overproduce melanin, causing irregular staining of the skin. This is often referred to as solar lentigines or age spots. A deeper, larger area of pigmentation caused by UV injury and dysfunction to the melanocytes is called Melasma.
Hormonal influences
Oestrogen can increase the production of melanin in the skin. Hyperpigmentation from hormonal changes, such as during pregnancy or when taking birth control pills is called ‘Melasma’.
Inflammation, Skin injuries, and scarring
Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) is when you get dark staining on your skin after rashes, burns, bug bites, skin injuries, etc.
What is the difference between Hyperpigmentation and Melasma?
Generally, sun-damage-induced hyperpigmentation spots (also called Solar Lentigines or age spots) occur in smaller isolated patches on the skin. They are quite simple to treat without affecting or damaging the deeper melanocyte cells.
Melasma tends to be a larger and deeper collection of melanin and is more commonly associated with hormonal changes, medication, and UV injury.
Melasma is a little more difficult to treat, and some skin treatments can actually make it worse. In fact, the devices frequently used to eliminate the discolouration associated with sunspots and acne can make melasma worse. Due to the deeper pigment proximity, it is not always possible to predict how an individual’s skin will react to the treatment. This is because the heat used in laser treatments can trigger the formation of even more pigment in the weeks following treatment. For this reason, it is so important to ensure you are seeing a practitioner who is experienced in treating Melasma and uses the appropriate technology. A good practitioner will always provide a test patch beforehand, to avoid worsening the melasma.
How to prevent hyperpigmentation and melasma
From a very young age and throughout life, it is a good idea to take care of your skin, and you can do that by:
Avoid direct sunlight
Try to stay out of the sun during the peak hours of 10 am to 2 pm. Make it a habit to seek shade and enjoy the warmth, over sweating it out in the direct sun.
Wear a hat
Shade your face and scalp with a wide-brimmed hat.
Incorporate Vitamin C into your beauty routine
Such as The Perfect C - which assists with skin lightening, brightening, and clarifying by enhancing the inhibition of melanogenesis, decreases risks associated with UVA/UVB damage, and enhances results of sun protectors
Apply sunscreen with at least SPF 30 or above
And it's not just during the summer. Sun damage must be prevented all year round - even if the sun is not out harmful UVA rays are still penetrating through the clouds. The best sunscreens are available on our online store or in the clinic. These have been tried and tested by us to ensure they actually work!
If you are taking Birth control, Check with your GP about the risks or Hormonal Melasma
How to treat Hyperpigmentation and Melasma
The good news is that there is something that can be done about it! There are several different ways to treat hyperpigmentation and Melasma.
Often Hyperpigmentation is treated with skin-lightening procedures (some also refer to it as skin bleaching, but this is a term we don’t like! it’s not factually correct).
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to treating hyperpigmentation and Melasma and a professional aesthetician will always evaluate the individual patient to find out which treatment is the most gentle and works best in the long term.
For some, a skin lightening cream and dark spot correcting cream that suits your skin and problems do the job. And in other cases, the cream must be supplemented with one or more other treatments, including:
Skin-lightening creams
IPL Treatments
Laser treatment
Skin peels
Microneedling
How do skin-lightening creams work?
Skin lightening and dark spot correcting creams, either non-prescription or prescription only, can help regulate the production of melanin in the skin and buffer out old melanin staining. Dark spot cream accelerates the body's natural autophagy, which rids unwanted tissue like melanin. Some well-known non-prescription ingredients, which are also in Calecim Professional Pigment Solution, includes: Niacinamide, Arbutin, Tranexamic acid, Glutathione, and Vitamin C.
Prescription skin lightening creams must only be used under the prescription and guidance of a health professional. These prescription ingredients include Hydroquinone and Tretinoin and may be mixed with non-prescription ingredients to enhance the effects, as does Perfect A and Perfect Bleaching creams (Only available with a face-to-face consultation with a Nurse Prescriber). Hydroquinone should only be used with a maximum strength of 4% and works by inhibiting the melanocyte from making melanin. Tretinoin 0.1% causes the epidermal skin cells to shed, taking with them any stained skin cells.
All of the dark spot creams we provide help to reduce free radicals, which are a type of unstable molecule that can build up in cells and cause damage to other molecules, causing those unwanted dark spots on the skin.
Skin Lightening Creams will also boost and maintain the results of in-clinic treatments.
In-Clinic Skin lightening procedures for Hyperpigmentation and Melasma
Skin lightening creams are fantastic for reducing and suppressing melanin and their continued use can keep dark spots at bay. Often a little extra help is needed when skin is severely damaged.
Treatment options include:
Prior to the Acroma: QS laser, laser, and light-based treatments could not be used to treat Melasma, often making it worse. Using low-level laser light with acoustic energy, the Acroma Melasma treatment gently, yet effectively, targets the deeper layers of melanin skin staining, causing the body to slowly expel the pigments to the surface.
Chemical peels such as The Perfect Peel work by deeply exfoliating the surface layers of the skin, forcing your body to quickly replenish it with new cells. When peels are performed the skin begins to rejuvenate itself like younger skin. Peel treatments improve skin texture and firmness, decreasing fine lines and wrinkles. Peels also even out skin tone, improve acne-prone skin and reduce pore size appearance.
Microneedling is a popular treatment, and for good reason too. Microneedling works by triggering the body's healing process. Fine needles create tiny punctures in the skin to create a controlled injury at a specific depth. Part of the healing process is the reorganisation of the skin cells, including the elimination of melanin stained skin cells.
Our evidence-based Cell Renew Microneedling is a natural yet very effective way to treat hyperpigmentation and sun-damaged skin. As a minimally-invasive treatment, you can expect minimal downtime and results that have been shown to be as effective as higher-risk laser treatments.
Our Oxford based IPL treatments remove unwanted dark spots and pigmentation. IPL uses various light energy wavelengths to target certain colours (or chromophores), such as melanin in the skin. When the light finds its target colour, the light is absorbed and turns to heat (similarly to a black car in the sun). When the target in the skin is heated, your body rejects the unwanted cells and removes blemishes and pigmentation you don’t want.
Thank you for taking the time to read - I hope you learned more on how to prevent and treat hyperpigmentation.
If you're dealing with hyperpigmentation, you're always welcome to contact me for a skin consultation and create a tailored plan for you to regain confidence with your skin.
Yours sincerely
x