Table of Contents
Overview
Have you recently noticed any dark spots or patchy skin tone? And do these areas appear like freckles? Worry not, because you may have a harmless common skin problem known as melasma. And guess what, this is a reversible condition! Yes, you can get back your skin tone. This article might help you with that!Â
As you may already know, antioxidants are beneficial to the health of your skin. You can reduce the appearance of melasma from the inside out by consuming antioxidants like lycopene, vitamin E, and vitamin A daily. They will repair your damaged skin cells, and melasma patches are lightened.
Now let’s understand this condition, its causes, and how to cure it of the inside!
What is melasma?
Melasma is a prevalent skin condition that affects a large percentage of the population. The word’s literal meaning is a black spot. The most common melasma symptoms are brown, blue-grey, or even black spots on your skin. If you have them, you may see flat patches or spots that look like “freckles” are also called ephelides or lentigines. Forearms and the face, particularly the cheeks, upper lip, and forehead, are common sites of infection. For this reason, pregnant women are often plagued with melasma, which is also known as the mask of pregnancy. When it comes to melasma, it deepens and lightens over the year.
Melasma is also known as chloasma, a less frequent term. Even though this condition is perfectly safe, it may make you feel uncomfortable.
What causes melasma?
You can get melasma if you have more exposure to UV, visible, or infrared light and suffer from hormone imbalance.
Melasma is aggravated by the sun’s ultraviolet and infrared rays. A variety of other things may cause melasma.
- Medications to prevent seizures:Â Medications that keep you from experiencing seizures may contribute to the development of melasma. Clobazam is an anti-seizure drug example.
- Contraceptive therapy (Birth control):Â Oral contraceptive pills have been linked to melasma because of estrogen and progesterone.
- Estrogen/Diethylstilbestrol: In its synthetic (artificial) form, diethylstilbestrol is another version of the estrogen hormone. When treating prostate cancer, it’s often used. Increased levels of estrogen are linked to melasma, as previously stated.
- Genetics:Â Melasma affects 33 to 50% of those who have it in their family, with the majority reporting that they know someone else in the family who also has it. Melasma affects most identical twins.
- Hypothyroidism:Â An underactive thyroid condition that may cause metabolism and hormonal levels disturbances, making you more prone to melasma.
- LED Displays:Â LED lights from your television, laptop, mobile phone, or tablet may cause your melasma.
- Pregnancy:  It’s not known why pregnant women experience this condition, also known as the mask of pregnancy. According to specialists, in the third trimester, women’s estrogen, progesterone, and melanocyte-stimulating hormone levels rise. But the good news is that it fades away on its own after pregnancy.
- Hormones: Some of your symptoms may be influenced by estrogen and progesterone. Progesterone has been administered to postmenopausal women who have developed melasma when given the hormone. If you don’t have melasma, you probably have melanoma because of the high amounts of estrogen receptors in your body.
- Cosmetics (makeup):Â A phototoxic response may occur due to some cosmetics.
- Phototoxic drugs (medications that increase your sensitivity to the sun):Â A few of them include antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), as well as diuretics and retinoids.
- Skincare products:Â Melasma may be exacerbated by-products that generally irritate.
- Soaps:Â Some scented soaps have been linked to melasma, either causing it or making it worse.
- Tanning beds:Â The UV radiation from tanning beds may be just as harmful to your skin as the UV light from the sun, if not more so.
How to cure melasma from the inside?
So, what can be done to get rid of those annoying spots and patches? First, remember that melasma is harmless. While you may find it irritating, it is not an indicator of ill health. Now let’s find out more about its cure.
 Melasma is usually treated with retinol and hydroquinone. These melasma therapies lessen the dark patches but do not address the underlying cause.
Treatment with retinol speeds up cell turnover, removing skin cells prematurely. The top darker layer of skin is removed. The black area disappears as new cells grow from underneath.
Hydroquinone is a bleach that lightens skin. Again, hydroquinone treats the symptoms, not the underlying problem. Therefore it reappears after discontinuation of use. So, to permanently treat melasma, it must be cured from the inside.
The first step to curing melasma from the inside is to identify its origins. If you are pregnant, the markings will go away after delivery; if you use birth control pills, you may need to switch to an IUD or condom.
It is critical to evaluate the issue ahead to rule out any inherent causes of melasma. Because if you ignore anything within that causes melasma, the issue will keep coming back.
Conclusion
Melasma is frequent, harmless, but annoying. If you’re self-conscious about it, it may affect your social life. However, this isn’t something you have to put up with. You can take preventive steps. skin specialistcan assist you. Ask questions and express concerns.
