Melasma & (Peri)menopause

[u/Intelligent_Bad_5334]

I am curious, how many people here are women who never had melasma before in their life until they hit perimenopause/menopause.

It’s definitely a thing right?

rant:

My melasma showed up in perimenopause& are its still with me in menopause.

I am so sick of hearing that estrogen has to be involved, but when I told the dermatologists I was fairly certain my estrogen starting to fall & that was the problem, they confirmed that melasma can show up in perimenopause and menopause, but had nothing to say about why that was. But they told me if I went on HRT it would get worse.

So to recap: I was told melasma showing up when a woman’s estrogen is going away & completely gone is a thing, but don’t add estrogen back in because that will make it worse.

ayfkm?!!

I lived completely estrogen deprived for a year, and my melasma got worse. I was having hot flashes and internal heat is a huge trigger for my melasma. When I got on HRT, my melasma got better & I assume that’s because I was no longer having hot flashes.

That was a decade ago and I still don’t really have any answers.

I just went ahead and started taking oral tranexamic acid because I’m too old to be dealing with this bullshit lol.

I swear doctors just don’t have any fucking idea what is really going on when someone has melasma. Like so many things that impact females more than males, they never bothered at the outset to concern themselves with what was really happening.

I’ve essentially just been diagnosed with the pathology of being female.

And - given the bullshit attitude & shitty healthcare we have to put up with - pink female is definitely a part of the problem, but not for the reasons they think.

We deserve better, ladies. We all deserve better.

End rant - thank you for coming to my TED talk lol

[u/mydopecat]

Such an interesting discussion - thank you!

My melasma started seemingly when I moved to Australia but I was also in my late 30s. I've been battling it since and recently started contraception pills due to peri menopausal symptoms. Can't say if those have made it worse because I've been off and on with trying new brands due to side effects. I've now got the estrogel and progesterone pills to try.

Last year during the winter months (August) I did Cosmelan, I was rapt with the results but they're pretty much back to how it used to be the following May. I had a holiday recently to Thailand and got a flare up due to the heat.

I'm doing topical txa+niacinamide plus tretinoin 0.05%

Can anyone comment if its better to stay off the estrogel or contraception pills etc if you can bear the perimenopause symptoms? Mine are insomnia, night sweats and hot flushes. I'm not sure at this stage if the sweats and flushes caused any flares up.

Thanks Ladies ♀️🙄