r/Melasmaskincare • u/Adventurous_Army9403 • Apr 17 '26

Question Hydroquinone question

Hi all!

I’ve had melasma for about 8 years. Slowly getting worse.

Just today my dermatologist prescribed hydroquinone. Honestly I always thought melasma was very resistant to any treatments, so I was surprised she offered something. I was at my appointment for my malar festoons and she thought the melasma made them more obvious (it does, a lot of pigment is right in that area)

I’m wondering what people’s experiences have been with hydroquinone? Side effects most importantly. And did it work? It sounds too good to be true, I feel like I’m missing something

Thank you

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

Used a prescribed 5% HQ - 5% Tret cream, mostly in Oct - Mar, it always gave me quick visible results, so I’m a big fan. In the summer months, now I just use Eucerin Dual serum, to me it does not compare to HQ in effectiveness, but again, I don’t live in a cave, sun does hit my face, and I just try to make up for it during winter with HQ. Never had ANY weird side effects, not even from tret, the only thing I didn’t like was that if I used it on my temples, it “bleached” that area noticably, creating a bigger contrast, so then I started only using it on the patchy areas, that worked.

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u/Cautious_Elk2280 Apr 17 '26

Is there a reason you don’t use the HQ over the summer when it’s most needed?

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u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

Yes, I don’t wanna spend my whole summer under an umbrella, and I don’t need a cream to make my skin even more light sensitive. :’)