how to treat hyperpigmentation at home

Hyperpigmentation (or dark spots) is an incredibly common skincare struggle. If you’re someone who deals with skin discolouration you know just how frustrating it can be to cover up and treat. Keep reading to find out how we treat dark spots of all sorts and origins.

what causes dark spots?

Hyperpigmentation happens when your skin overproduces melanin (your skin’s natural pigment) following inflammation or external stimulation seen with UV exposure. This is where it gets tricky, because there are several underlying causes of inflammation in the skin, including hormones, the sun, age and acne.

typical causes of hyperpigmentation include:

1. excess sun exposure or UV damage

When the skin is exposed to the sun, melanin or pigment is produced to provide natural protection against UV rays. If we over-expose or burn the skin, there is an overproduction and deposit of melanin which can lead to hyperpigmentation. These may develop as freckles, age spots, liver spots, solar keratosis (flat or raised lesions) or dark non confluent patches (dark patches that have not merged together) or dark confluent patches, that are typically larger than freckles.

2. hormonal changes

Hormonal fluctuations, especially increases in oestrogen and progesterone that can occur with pregnancy or the contraceptive pill, can lead to an overstimulation of pigment formation. This is often referred to as melasma or chloasma (the mask of pregnancy). Melasma generally appears as large, dark brown confluent patches above the lips, on the cheeks and forehead.

3. inflammatory skin conditions

Inflammation tends to produce a healing response within the skin. When we experience a burn, an acne lesion, or a rash, the skin and inflammatory cells released to aid the healing of the skin tend to also trigger the pigment producing cells or melanocytes. This results in a dark patch or area that remains for a period after the initial inflammatory lesion has healed and disappeared. Occasionally it may remain permanently and will require treatment to lighten or resolve the dark pigmentation left behind.

4. skin treatments or trauma

Trauma such as a cut or laceration has a similar response to inflammatory skin conditions. This does not happen every time, but in some of us we will experience a deposit of pigment where the cut or laceration took place.
Similarly, skin treatments such as lasers; medium or deep chemical peels, Dermapen rarely, and even dermal fillers, can cause an overstimulation of the pigment producing cells which leads to hyperpigmentation.

5. medication

Hyperpigmentation can be induced by a wide variety of medication, the most common of which includes: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Aspirin, Voltaren, Ibuprofen; antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine; epilepsy treatments such as phenytoin; certain antipsychotic drugs; antibiotics such as tetracyclines; and heavy metals.

Read a more in depth article on hyperpigmentation here.