thoughts on hyperpigmentation
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free skin care · Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:22 pm

Just curious about something in regards to pigmentation.

I saw my sister today and I haven't seen her in awhile. She is 38, I'm 36. I noticed that she has quite a bit of pigmentation on her upper cheekbones under her eyes.

This is the first year I'm having pigmentation issues as well. (I did have a bit of this 4.5 years ago when pregnant but it went away on it's own and I didn't even wear sunscreen then.)

I was thinking maybe it was just our age group but I don't notice it on my friends. Neither of my parents have pigmentation problems.

My sister and I do not do the exact same skincare routine but we both use Vit C on and off and both use some kind of exfoliator and both use sunscreen. Also, we have probably used the same products over the last while just not necessarily at the same time. Skinceuticals, IS Clinical, PSF, Decleor, Retin-A.

I'm trying to figure if there is some kind of connection between something in the products we're using??? I know that not using sunscreen while using some of the above products can cause pigmentation but we both wear sunscreen daily.

I guess I'm just thinking out loud.

Do you think if you use a product that has some sort of skin lightener in it (like IS Clinical and others has arbutin, kojic acid, etc) but you do NOT have a pigmentation problem and then you stop using the products with those ingredients in them that you could develop a pigmentation problem?

I did not have any issue with pigmentation (except during pregnancy) and so why now? I was using IS Clinical and then stopped for awhile. IS CLnical active, super serum, and proheal all have lighteners in them.

Any thoughts?

free skin care · Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:46 pm

lily, i came across an article, it's quite interesting and it discusses uv from florescent lights. before i would not wear sunscreen unless i was outside, but knowing there is uv coming from indoors is making me apply it everyday now. maybe this could be the culprit? http://www.icpa4kids.org/research/articles/childhood/sunscreen.htm

HTH any.

Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:00 am

I sometime wonder about hyperpigmentation as well. has any of you noticed that it is mostly us, ladies who suffer from hyperpigmentation, and not so much with the guys.. which leads to me wondering if hyperpigmentation are more hormonally induced than actual sun damage.

Let's face it, there are very few guys out there worrying about wearing sunscreen whereas many of us girls are slathering it on every single day and STILL suffer from hyperpigmentation! OR could it be that all the chemicals we slather on our faces everyday is doing more damage than good ?! Shock

This is just pure speculation tho, maybe it all comes down to genes.

free skin care · Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:18 am

sundae wrote:

I sometime wonder about hyperpigmentation as well. has any of you noticed that it is mostly us, ladies who suffer from hyperpigmentation, and not so much with the guys.. which leads to me wondering if hyperpigmentation are more hormonally induced than actual sun damage.

Sundae, never thought about that before, but it's true! hmm

A puzzler for me is why Asian women (I'm one) are more prone to hyperpigmentation. Sad

Not fair, not fair! Crying or Very sad

Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:37 am

Montrealgal, I'm asian as well.. and it seems like a lot of asian women suffer from hyperpigmentation~ that sucks Sad

free skin care · Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:16 am

sundae wrote:

has any of you noticed that it is mostly us, ladies who suffer from hyperpigmentation, and not so much with the guys.. which leads to me wondering if hyperpigmentation are more hormonally induced than actual sun damage.

My derm did tell me some years back that a lot of pigmentation IS hormonally induced. She may be wrong, as she's not god, even though I treat her as such Laughing

A lot of women do seem to suffer from pigmentation during pregnancy though. I guess you have to stay childless and live in a cave to avoid it. Laughing

free skin care · Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:25 pm

I do think there is a hormonal twist to it for sure as it is very common in pregnancy and then again at menopause.

What I can't figure out is that now that I'm using IS Clinical again the spots are getting better but there was 3 years after I originally got them when prego that I used nothing- not even sunscreen (yikes!) and they just went away on their own.

free skin care · Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:28 pm

sundae--maybe women are more likely to get melasma than men because of our genes and stuff?

i also read something about oxybenzene (i hope i spelled it right), which is an active chemical ingredient sunscreen, and how it may actually cause dark spots. i notice a lot of sunscreens use this ingredient or some derivative. i am scared now, so am trying to go for pure physical sunscreens, and avoided the blended ones even.

i, too, have been noticing asian women's faces, and seems as if most of the older ladies have some form of melasma (not just spots, but bigger spots). makes me so much more afraid of the sun. i need a good sun hat now Confused

lily--yup, melasma induced by pregnancy tends to disappear by itself. the ones caused by the sun, from what i understand, don't just go away.

montrealgirl--so i think melasma can come from 2 sources--hormones and the sun.

here's an article about melasma, it's really short, but sums things up nicely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melasma

free skin care · Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:53 pm

sundae wrote:

Montrealgal, I'm asian as well.. and it seems like a lot of asian women suffer from hyperpigmentation

I did read this in a couple of places (can't remember where).

Quote:

~ that sucks Sad

Big time!

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