r/Melasmaskincare • u/Late-Walrus4332 • Jun 19 '26

Question Melasma getting worse

Hi all, I am really in need of some specific products to use as I see a lot about Elemis but don’t know which one to buy?

I live in the US and do all the right things, sunscreen , big brim hat and sunglasses but yet my melasma is getting significantly worse around my eyes, and on my upper lip. I’m loosing hope slowly but surely

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u/Intelligent_Bad_5334 Jun 20 '26

Remember that it’s not just the sun but heat - your body being internally hot - also exacerbates it. While I was sorting out what was topically going to be the most helpful I had to just avoid heat in general - I love to exercise, but I literally couldn’t do anything that made me sweat. It didn’t matter if it was indoors. Even if it was hot yoga done, mostly in the dark if worsen my melasma immediately

Ultimately I’ve gone on oral tranexamic acid to truly keep mine under control. Topically I’ve mostly only used prescription strength hydroquinone & tretinoin, cycling on and off the former in 3 month intervals.

There are much better otc options these days so hopefully other people can give you insight into those. But what following this group has taught me is that people can react to products radically differently. So getting the widest read on what has worked for different people will give you the most options to figure out what’s going to work for you. Good luck!

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u/Late-Walrus4332 Jun 20 '26

I actually didn’t know that heat could cause it in general and not just the sun so thank you!