Pigmentation problems can be a serious skin concern among women. In addition to ugly marks and patches on the skin, there is a lot of emotional stress on the person. This is why it is incredibly difficult to deal with pigmentation problems. Moreover, if you don’t apply the right type of skin care products, the skin condition may aggravate and lead to more serious problems.
Skin pigmentation can be caused by a variety of factors. While some are natural some happen because of skin care negligence. Here are some of the common causes of skin pigmentation.
Birthmarks
Some people are born with pigmented birthmarks. They may be spots, dark patches and so on. Most of them are permanent birthmarks which if don’t fade away on their own remain on the skin forever. However, you can used laser therapy or surgical procedures to get them removed.
Sun Spots
Also called age spots, they are caused as a result of prolonged and unprotected sun exposure. The UV radiations of the sun increase the percentage of melanin within the skin and cause the melanocytes to group together. This results in the formation of dark brown spots on the skin. Pollution can aggravate the situation.
Treatment of Pigmented Skin
Protect Your Skin From the Sun
Skin pigmentation is causes by melanin. The melanin cells, comprised of the melanocytes and are located in the deeper layers of the skin and protects against damage by the sun’s UV rays. More the melanin in your skin, darker will be the skin tone. This is the reason why fair-skinned people, who contain very less melanin, are more prone to sun burns.
In order to prevent skin pigmentation and formation of brown spots, it is important to keep your skin protected against the sunlight. Therefore, make sure you wear a broad spectrum sunscreen whenever you venture out in the sun. Slather the sunscreen all over the exposed areas of your body at least 15-20 minutes before venturing out so that it gets absorbed effectively
Product Suggestions:
La Roche Posay Anthelios 60 Melt-In Sunscreen Lotion
It is a lightweight sunscreen lotion that quickly absorbs into your skin leaving a sheer finish. The La Roche Posay CELL-OX Shield provides antioxidants and both UVA/UVB protection and is water resistant. It is also available in Fluid and Milk form.
Obagi Day Lotion
It exfoliates the skin surface and accelerates skin cell turnover. In addition it also keeps the skin well hydrated and protected for flawless looking skin.
Avoid Petroleum & Alcohol based Skin Care Products
Petroleum and alcohol based products are extremely dangerous for the skin as they serve to aggravate skin pigmentation. They increase the number of free radicals in the skin and cause intrinsic damage. Alcohol often causes a stinging sensation in the skin that prompts free radicals to multiply. An increase in the number of free radicals also accelerate the production of melanin. Moreover, pollution and other environmental stressors also cause the skin pigmentation to increase.
Use Skin Lightening Products
In order to protect the skin and remove the unsightly marks, you need to use effective skin lightening products. Look for ingredients like hydroquinone and kojic acid that serve to lighten the skin tone and thus erase the pigmentation marks. They also control the production of melanin within the skin cells and
Product Suggestions:
Vivite Vibrance Therapy
It is a unique skin care formulation that contains restorative antioxidants to brighten and even out skin tone while at the same time reducing fine lines and wrinkles. It includes ingredients like Licorice root extract, Mulbery fruit, green tea, grapes, and fennel seeds to keep the skin young and fresh looking while evening out age spots, brown spots and other forms of hyperpigmentation. It also helps to hydrate the skin and protect against free radicals.
Obagi Nu-Derm Clear
This is a great skin bleaching and corrector cream containing 4% Hydroquinone to even out age spots, freckles, liver spots and overall skin tone. It correct the unevenness and age spots on your skin.
Obagi C-Clarifying Serum
It is the one and only clarifying serum that combines 4% hydroquinone and Vitamin C serum along with L-ascorbic acid. 4% hydroquinone is a well established ingredient for evening out pigmentation issues in the skin. Pared with Vitamin C this product promotes an even skin tone and also provides potent antioxidant protection.
Skin pigmentation is also known as Hyperpigmentation and Hypopigmentation. These conditions cause skin discolouration as a result of increased local skin pigment (melanin) production. Melanin protects us from the effects of strong sunlight. A person’s melanin level depends on the amount of sun exposure and their race. Often due to a variety of different influences such as UV or trauma, it leads to inflammation at a cellular level which causes the skin to produce more melanin. Internal bodily controls can resist over production but with continued exposure and with ageing, over exposed skin can lose its ability to restrict over production and lead to long term hyper pigmentation marks. During times of hormonal variation such as being pregnant, the control of pigment production can be diminished and this also can lead to hyper pigmentation. This results in darker skin spots or areas, such as age, liver and sun spots, after local damage from acne or burns, or pregnancy mask (often seen post pregnancy on the jaw line and other facial areas). The amount of pigmentation varies from person to person; some disorders can affect your entire body, others just patches of skin.
Causes
v The body producing either too little or too much melanin causes skin pigmentation disorders
v Emotional stress
v Reaction to drugs
v Medications
v Sun Exposure: the body produces more melanin in areas exposed to the sun. It does this as the UV instructs the cells to release the melanin.
v Genetic factors
v Hormonal changes such as birth control pills and childbirth
Different Pigmentation Disorder Types
v Hypo-Pigmentation is more commonly known as a loss of skin pigmentation. It occurs because the body does produce enough melanin. Common causes of this are burns, blisters, ulcers or infection that leaves a lack of pigmentation in that area.
v Hyper-Pigmentation happens when the body produces an excess of melanin that forms deposits in the skin, causing dark patches. The main cause of hyper-pigmentation is sun damage; age and liver spots are a good example. Melasma is also a form of hyper-pigmentation that is often due to hormonal changes. A good of example of melasma is the pregnancy mask.
v Albinism is typically an inherited trait. The main characteristics of someone with Albinism are pale-light skin, white or pale yellow hair and pale blue eyes; occasionally a person with Albinism may have red or violet eyes. Unfortunately there is no cause for Albinism and individuals have to wear sunscreen at all times; sufferers are more prone to skin cancer and sun damage.
v Lichen Simplex Chronicus is a skin disorder that is characterised by dark patches of skin that are also extremely itchy. If the infection is left untreated, permanent scarring can occur.
v Vitiligo is another type of hypo-pigmentation, which is caused by the loss of melanocytes; pigment producing cells. This causes white patches on the skin, which are extremely sensitive to the sun. Again, there is no cure for vitiligo. Treatments for vitiligo fall under the following four categories:
§ Skin camouflage – helps in disguising white patches using coloured creams and lotions.
§ Treatments that aim to reverse the changes in the skin.
§ Treatment to completely de-pigment the skin (skin bleaching).
§ Sunblock and other means to protect the de-pigmented skin.
v Naevus flammeus, also known as port-wine stains are red or purple marks that appear on the body. Abnormal development of capillaries is the cause of this.
v Birthmarks appear at birth or in the following weeks and generally do not pose any health risks.
Treatment
While there is no cure for pigmentation skin disorders, there are ways of reducing the effects. This can be doing through certain operative techniques but more commonly by the application of medicines to the problem skin area. The form of pigmentation determines the treatment suitability.
§ People suffering with Albinism are advised to avoid excess sunlight, to cover up and to always apply sunscreen, to avoid the high risk of skin cancer. As Albinism also affects the eyes, surgery can be necessary to correct visual impairments.
§ People suffering with vitiligo may be prescribed a combination of medications that are photo-sensitive; for example trimethylpsoralen and ultraviolet light therapy to darken the spots.
§ People suffering with hyper-pigmentation disorders are again advised to stay out of the sun and often use skin-lightening creams. Poor nutrition can also be causal factor of hyper-pigmentation so a session with a dietician may be beneficial.
§ To prevent skin cancer, suspicious birthmarks and moles can be surgically removed.
