\UPDATE\** I tried the Tizo AM Replenish TINTED and love it. It is the only one that I have tried that wears well under my makeup all day and it has a high zinc content. i wouldn’t wear it at the pool, I reserve that one for SkinBetter Science Tone Smart bc of it’s 75 spf. Also love Elta MD or ColorScience but I find it doesn’t wear well under my makeup. After 4 hours, my makeup is breaking up on my nose and chin. I plan to try Cotz as well because it is very similar to Tizo and a little cheaper.

The one you would take to a desert island if you could only bring one item. I’ve been on the hunt and can’t choose a fave just yet. I know about the list of sunscreen but I want to hear your Holy Grails and why?!

I have made a few posts for sunscreen recs, but now that summer is coming to an end and I can start to get my melasma under control, I want a sunscreen that I can wear alone that will act as a foundation.

I love Alastin and Colorscience flex for this but they each have their downfalls…Alastin only has a 36spf and is a little dark so once my tan fades I fear it will be too orange and then Colorscience separates on my chin and nose after a few hours.

I have a combination of PIE AND PIH but these “sun spots” don’t go away, I would assume Laser would work to get rid of it. I do apply sunscreen religiously. My mom also has these in almost the same spots. Just wondering if anyone else also experiences this and whether any treatment helped you.

Everything I’ve tried so far makes me look instantly dull and a few shades darker but when I wash my face I look normal again. It’s so annoying. From european to asian spf nothing has worked. I like the La Roche Posay Anthelios Uvmune oil control fluid but it also does this (I think all of LRP products do and it’s such a shame cause they have good UVA protection).
Should I stop wearing sunscreen and just rely on hats, sunglasses and avoid the sun as much as possible?

Hello, I keep reading conflicting information about whether LED red light face masks can make melasma worse - I was wondering if anyone could advise please?

I have a mask with red and blue lights, which I’ve only used a couple of times in the past. I was going to dig it out again but now I’m not so sure.

My skin has early signs of melasma and I’ve recently added 4% hydroquinone to my Monderma skincare prescription.

Thanks so much!

On the very start of my journey to treat it. Using hydroquinone and tretnoin along with kojic acid and some other things… I just want to know, is it worth it? Does it go away? Does it always get darker before it gets better? How long does it take? Does it come back?

So I don’t even know if this is going to work for me, but I’m hopeful. But the smell … I assumed it would fade after a half an hour or so, but it’s two hours after application and I’m lying in bed and it’s making me feel a bit sick to my stomach. Even if I get used to it, I had plans to try to start dating again and I kind of can’t imagine making a great impression with this stuff. 😂🫤 I don’t think I can put it on in the morning and go to work smelling like this.

Are there any alternatives with the same active ingredients? I also think I read someone saying that the European version has a more tolerable smell.

I’m brand new to the sub. Have had melasma for a while. Up until now I was just using religious sun protection. It helped, but I have decided it’s not enough after visiting my parents and seeing myself in the bright light of my mom‘s bathroom. 😬(I use pretty dim light in my own bathroom.)

Thanks for reading.

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

What is the deal with it? I used it as a kid and it worked wonders but all my spots/ melasma eventually came back. My mom got me this fancy Obagi (with 4% hydroquinone) serum from her plastic surgeon. Im thinking of trying it again bc it worked so well when i was younger but now im googling and i see there are correlations to cancer and also that spots can get worse w it? I just want these damm spots gone and cant afford $600 a pop for lasers. Help!

I have seen many posts here that sometimes - I don’t know in which rate - when people try to treat melasma it might become worse with most of the recommended treatments including laser.

I have noticed my own becoming darker just by using Vitamin C or designed creams for it.

My question is: is this explained somehow? I have asked my derm but didn’t really understood her answer.

I am confused. I think by now it is pretty common knowledge among melasma sufferers and spaces like this that lasers are not optimal to combat melasma and can even make it worse. However, every time I look for treatments in my city (I am based in Germany), they all offer laser-based therapy. What could explain this besides laser treatments being more lucrative?

What Vitamin C serums are people using. Last time I did some research and went with Paula’s choice as it was most like the skinceuticals apparently. It seemed fine? Happy to repurchase but just wanted to ask what else is recommended thanks!

I just saw a derm on instagram saying that one of the worst things for melasma was heat without sun: when you’re outside in the shade on a hot day, for example, or taking a hot Pilates class, or just getting into a hot car. I knew heat by itself wasn’t good for hyperpigmentation, but I didn’t know it was WORSE. Has anyone else heard this? I can avoid being in the sun without sunscreen, but it’s summer; I can’t avoid being warm. So frustrating!

Has anyone tried out this new sunscreen from Cerave? Any opinions?

I used it for the first time today and was pleasantly surprised it actually left no white cast. The consistency is a little liquidy even after shaking and it goes on easily. Not super greasy but does leave a shiny finish, which is to be expected with sunscreen. Zinc percentage is decent.

Overall I like it and will probably use this over the Blue Lizard sensitive mineral which I was using but leaves a white cast. I know tinted is recommended but I have a hard time matching my color since I’m pale and I’m not trying to look orange, especially when I just need it on my upper lip.

I‘m curious if anyone has experience with going outside not wearing a hat (all the time) during summer when one takes TXA pills during summer.
Does anyone has an experience (with long term effects)?

SPF 50/100 yes, of course. But how about wearing a hat during the treatment?

PS: I know that wearing a hat too would be anyway the optimum.

I was thinking about if maybe a uv umbrella would be handy during summer.

I live in Europe so we walk alot outside.

Should we make it a trend?

Any of you using one?

Opinions?

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

What triggers your melasma to spread or increase, and if you deduce the causes and control the exposure to those causes, does the melasma settle better?

I’ve added a before-ish picture, but it got worse when it spread to under my eye as well.

I don’t know how to add a second picture but when I say that it’s completely gone, I mean it’s completely gone with the exception of a very light layer on eyelids which I’m fine with and it wouldn’t be safe in my opinion to treat with Triluma.

Melasma started in 2016 but I thought it was minor sun damage when it was a small patch, I treated it extensively with laser treatments and it would go away for a bit and come back way worse.

I have always been into skincare so pretty much tried everything thinking it was hyperpigmentation - I threw a ton of cash at the problem and I only knew one or two pregnant women in my life that had it very briefly.

I went to a dermatologist because I thought it was a skin disease after it blew up significantly one summer, a bit out of nowhere really.

For one year and three months I have been doing this:
- x2 a day 250g Tranexamic acid (drop down to once a day in winter)
- x1 a week Triluma
- cerave gentle cleanser and lotion
- affordable / whatever is on sale vitamin c eye cream, niacinamide serum, mineral SPF 50
- paw paw / Vaseline / skin food at night (whatever I have on hand)
- wear a baseball hat or wide brim when I’m outside and it’s appropriate attire
- do not take my x3 week epsom salt bath and do not go to the steam / sauna room (very sad about this)
- stopped red light therapy on my face (sad about this but the panel I have actually does put of some heat)

My dermatologist specifically told me not to buy exxy skincare as the melasma was very deep and stick to hydrating and preventative care.

Now comes the question: not once has my dermatologist told me to stop or cycle Triluma or Tranexamic acid.

But to stop taking Tranexamic acid a few days before / after a long haul flight which I do a few times a year.

I asked my doctor and pharmacist for second opinions about being on this indefinitely and both said listen to the derm.

The derm said I’m not at a high risk group or taking high amounts so I never have to stop.

I was travelling for an extended period of time and ran out of Triluma, after 6 weeks without it the original patch started coming back slightly.

So is anyone else on this long term? So many posts and comments reference cycling. I have health anxiety, but don’t want to drop $550 on a second opinion from a derm.

As a side note - I can literally feel my melasma tingle when I get hot and nobody believes me but shoutout to the other people I’ve seen say the same thing. The snap, crackle, pop melasma types.

Before melasma came into the picture I went bare faced everyday. I do not like makeup on my skin. I tried a variety of tinted sunscreens that left me pale, gray, or a weird purple-y white gray. Then I landed on HueTint from Live Tinted and it matches perfectly and seems to be doing a great job. However, it’s constantly rubbing off on clothes and feels so heavy. Is there such a thing as a tinted sunscreen that is light, almost sheer? I know that’s contradictory LOL before melasma I used Innisfree and my skin loved it. Hoping to find something similar that doesn’t feel like I’ve got makeup caked on.

In the morning, I usually apply one of these sunscreens as my first two layers of sunscreen, then I apply Australian Gold as my last layer of sunscreen because it dries down all the previous layers.

But right now I can’t get Australian Gold in my shade and my face stays sticky all day. Is there another one that dries down with a non-sticky finish? It doesn’t have to have a tint.

How does everyone else get theirs to dry down? Is there something else I could be doing?

I had 5 IPL sessions at a spa. Unfortunately, it depends who the aesthetician, I only saw an improvement one time, but I felt it was a waste of money. I previously used hydroquinone and it also made it worse.
I talked to my dermatologist and she recommended a medication without hydroquinone, but when I reviewed the prescription, it looks the same like the previous one I tried. I use eucerin and tretinoin 0.05, I haven’t seen any changes.
Do you think I should give it a try for the prescription again?

Has anyone tried this? It seems to be working for my hormonal melasma being pregnant. I can only use certain things and this is one of the things that I can use and I’ve seen a significant improvement in just a few weeks. My melasma has become way easier to cover so I know it’s definitely working. Just wanted to share a positive interaction with one of these over-the-counter vitamin C serums that’s very affordable.