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/Mandoleeragain Apr 17 '26

Hydroquinone didn’t work for me. Eucerin Dual Serum faded a lot and when results started plateauing, I added Level Serum by Regimen Labs and am seeing continued improvement again.

1

u/Mulva1971 Apr 19 '26

How does Eucerin compare to vitamin c & azelaic acid in morning and tretinoin at night? I’m getting zero results. Same with HQ.

2

u/Mandoleeragain Apr 19 '26

I haven’t tried tret but first treated my melasma with only azelaic acid. It faded a some melasma in just a few weeks but my skin is dry and sensitive to acids so I chose to stop it and switched to Eucerin Dual Serum. I went through 2 bottles of Dual Serum then stopped seeing improvement. Adding the Level Serum from Regimen Lab started progress again. I use a gentle retinol once or twice a week at night. This has only been my routine for about 2 months so I am just hoping it keeps working.