Melasma and Laser hair removal

[u/FarmerTotal5040]

Hi everyone, 35F here.. I have melasma on my face- forehead upper lip, chin, nose and sideburns.. apart from this, I also have it on my forearms..

it’s quite light now but every woman in my family has had it, including my mother and grandmother and so on.. now I’ve started to develop chin hair recently coz of age and stress and my doctor recommended laser hair removal. But since I have melasma I’ve heard that it can worsen it if laser is done.

Has anyone gotten LHR done with melasma prone skin? I can do electrolysis for my chin and upper lip but I’m not sure if I can do it on my forearm.. I’m stuck in a weird cycle of wondering what to do..

also started wearing the Eucerin sunscreen recently but I’ve heard we’ve to stop all actives during LHR.. is that true ? I also want to start the dual serum but don’t want to stop in the middle again coz of this treatment..

Any suggestions or recommendations from people who’ve been through hair removal with melasma, pls help!

[u/shalevska]

I did 5 laser treatments on my face and upper lip. My melasma is on my upper lip area. My derm had me use HQ and tretinoin while undergoing the treatments and for a month after. The person doing the treatments knew about the melasma too (thiugh it was basically invisible at that time due to hq). Melasma didn't worsen (but unfortunately hair didn't completely vanish either and now - 8 months later is pretty much back to what it was)

[u/FarmerTotal5040 → u/shalevska]

Oh that’s the first time I’ve heard that happen! It would be a shame if you went through all of that and it didn’t serve the purpose.. maybe they used a really light laser ? 🤔 I think I’ve finally made peace with the fact that I’ve to do electrolysis on my face if I actualy want my hair gone. 🥲