Melasma presents as brown patches on the face, caused when melanin in the skin concentrates in one area. These brown patches often appear after pregnancy or are due to hormonal changes caused by birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy. Heredity also plays a large factor. In all, it’s estimated that more than six million women in America suffer from melasma.
Enough with the bad news. The good news is that laser treatment for melasma can take down that brown. However, the physician doing the melasma laser treatment should be highly experienced. Laser treatment for melasma takes skill and a real understanding of which melasma laser treatment devices are the best ones to use for your condition and skin type. Choosing wrong or treating too aggressively can actually make your melasma worse.
Depending on your skin color and how dark the patch is, laser treatment for melasma may need to be done several times before it disappears. After that, occasional maintenance treatments might be required. It’s not uncommon for our doctors to use one or more lasers to treat the area, depending on the depth of the melanin in the skin. The doctor may also prescribe topical medicines that help decrease development of melanin in the area or cause the skin to be more receptive to topical medications.
The first step is coming in for a complimentary consultation with one of our physicians – we’ll help make those brown patches a distant memory!
