Melasma

What does melasma look like?

Melasma often appears as dark brown or grayish irregular patches on the cheeks, upper lip, nose, and/or forehead. Melasma has no other symptoms or warning signs. These skin discolorations can be present in all forms, sizes, in large or small quantity, or widely dispersed.

What causes it?

Melasma results from the stimulation of melanocytes, which are pigment producing cells in the skin that can react to the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. During pregnancy a woman's hormones are in greater flux and the odds of developing melasma increases, although many non-pregnant women develop melasma. Exposure to sunlight or excessive heat also stimulates melanocytes and is therefore a direct cause of various skin discolorations. Physicians suspect that a genetic predisposition to the skin condition may also exist.

What are potential solutions?

At View Laser we use a gentle, comprehensive approach to reducing the appearance of melasma, as many procedures may actually worsen this condition. In all cases, home care is extremely important to treat melasma, in certain cases we use medical-grade, in-office topical solutions to more effectively combat melasma.