Edmonton Dermatology | What is Melasma
Hi, and welcome to Edmonton Dermatology YouTube channel. We’re so glad you joined us. My name is Karen, and this is Andrea here from the clinic. And today we’re gonna be talking about melasma. So this is a, a big topic as well. It’s Yeah. Is skincare. Yeah. Invest in your skin. It’s going to represent you for a long time. Yes. That’s a model to live by, I think. Absolutely.
So melasma is is a condition that a lot of people actually struggle with. It’s, we do get a lot of patients that come in and they explain to us that they have these really brown patches that they really don’t like, and they don’t know how to get rid of ’em. And they flare up, they get darker, and then they get lighter and it kind of goes back and forth. So a lot of the times they come to us after years of struggling with this, and it’s something that a lot of patients actually don’t even know that they have.
Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then maybe go into a little more detail.
What exactly is melasma?
So Melasma is a condition of the melanocytes in our skin. So those are their pigment producing cells. Now there’s a lot of debate on why it actually happens. Some people say it’s from inflammation. Some people say it’s an immune thing. Some people say it’s strictly sun. Again, there’s so much research and stuff like that out there and everybody’s saying different things. Ultimately, it’s just this really deep inset pigmentation in the skin that is very difficult to try and get rid of.
And what does melasma look like?
So, yeah, it’s tends to be, it’s not necessarily an entire face, but some people can have their entire face. Some people call it pregnancy face, so it can just be like this almost mask on the face that is constantly there. Some people do present with just like large patches of pigment, either on the cheeks or the forehead. It tends to be quite a popular area as right in here.
You can get it on your nose even though that’s not as popular of an area, but they’re just kind of these kind of specy, brown, dark brown kind of patches on the skin that patients just find it really difficult to try and get rid of. Hmm. Yeah.
So why then, why do people get melasma?
Like, So again, like there’s different reasons that researchers try and figure out why it happens. A lot of the time it does happen from lots of sun exposure, so it can make it darker and worse with more sun exposure. Pregnancy also, the reason why is there’s a lot of hormones going on trying to help with baby and stuff like that. So essentially it’s just all that extra hormonal sun exposure, all that kind of stuff is why melasma kind of gets onset.
And does it, does melasma ever go away on its own?
Unfortunately it does not. The reason why is as soon as your melanocytes know that they need to be doing something, they continue to do it. They don’t stop. So unfortunately it is one of those things that just you’re struggle with for a long time.
Okay. I’ll take that question a step further.
Can you permanently cure melasma?
Again, unfortunately not. It’s one of those lifetime conditions that we really need to make sure that we try and keep the melanocytes under control. We can’t forever get rid of our melanocytes. They’re kind of there, they’re important, they protect us. They evolve to protect us from the sun. It’s just unfortunate that they just don’t know when to stop producing pigmentation. So it’s more just training them to slow down that pigmentation.
How do you prevent melasma?
So the big one is sunscreen. Okay, staying out of the sun. Of course you’re still allowed to live your life and go out. Just be mindful of reapplying your sunscreen every two hours using an SVF minimum 30. Also making sure that you’re not out at the peak hours of the day, which is usually 11 and three. Also making sure that you’re staying in the shade. If you’re gonna be outside in those hours just so that you’re, the sun does not hit those areas of concern and create that pigmentation to get darker deeper.
The more heat those melanocytes get, the more sunlight those melanocytes get, the more they’re going to produce that pigment and it gets darker.
Okay. What types of skincare can help with melasma?
So of course you wanna make sure that your skin is actually flaking off properly. Naturally, not, not necessarily do you actually see pieces of skin come off, but it’s just naturally flaking off gently. Also, bleaching creams. Okay. Now bleaching creams will help suppress those pigmentation cells. Those melanocytes will help kind of put them to sleep, but they’ll still be there to protect you from the sun if need be. Also having that constant gentle peel of your skin naturally. So as your melanocytes slow down in producing that pigmentation, those cells as they keep coming up, will have less and less pigmentation in them.
Okay. So what happens is then those areas become lighter, so you don’t notice it as much. It’s a little easier to cover it up with makeup. So it’s making sure that your skin is being exfoliated properly and you’re using lightning creams and sunscreen again. Okay.
Common theme. Common Theme. Yeah.
What treatments are available?
So the best thing for melasma to try and keep it under control is lasers. So laser treatments are really designed to try and go in there, try and pull out a lot of that pigmentation all at once to try and lighten that up a little bit. It was also trying to reset the melanocyte to try and calm it down. But again, there’s that debate of is it hormonal? Is it strictly sun exposure? Is it an immune response?
That’s the part why melasma continually comes back because we’re not sure what’s going on inside the body that creates that extra pigmentation. So lasers are really good at kind of taking a lot of it out and then you can use skincare to keep that long-term effect where it’s just kind of staying settled in the skin and it’s not as dark and deep, it’s just kind of a light coloring that you can totally cover up with makeup. Hmm.
Yeah. Okay. Let’s say I was pregnant.
How do I reduce my risk of melasma at that point?
So of course with pregnancies, you know, we don’t wanna be doing any laser treatments. There’s certainly skincare products that we highly recommend you do not use as we don’t know what it does if you are pregnant. So essentially we usually say just keep up with sunscreen and staying in the shade. That way you’re making sure that you’re not actually going to get that heat induction plus with the extra hormones in that you are at a greater risk of burning.
So it’s just making sure that you keep out of the sun, wear your sunscreen, SBF minimum 30, and usually try and stay with the physical blocks. Those are your titanium and zinc dioxides zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Those ones will be safe to be used in pregnancy. And of course, like I said, staying in the shade.
So a mineral block as opposed to a mineral block, chemical Block. Yeah,
Exactly. I totally can get with that. Yeah, well thanks so much for answering all these amazing questions. You’re welcome. And helping, you know, teach people how to take care of their skin. So, because we’re gonna have it all our lives. Yeah. So and so subscribe to our channel. If you are loving what you’re hearing and learning some things about it, even leave us a comment to absolutely please us know what you wanna know about, maybe you have some questions about these topics and like the video if you like the content. And we’ll see you guys on the next video. Bye. Thanks so much. Bye.