Understanding Pigmentation

Skin pigmentation disorders are common, and affect skin color. Your complexion depends on a pigment, called melanin, made of special cells that make melanin. The unhealthy/damaged cells affect melanin production. While certain pigmentation issues affect only patches of skin, others affect your full body. Your skin gets darker if your body produces excess melanin. 

Types of Skin Pigmentation

Here are the most common types of skin pigmentation:

Freckles

Freckles, or ephelides, are the most common type of pigmentation, which occurs after consistent sun exposure, mainly if you have a fair complexion. 

Melasma

Melasma, or chloasma, is a deeper skin pigmentation, which shows up on your face as bigger brown patches with an unclear border. 

Solar Lentigines

Solar lentigines, also called sun spots or liver spots, are pigmented spots with clearly defined edges, which may occur on any body part. 

Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation

It is a response to skin injury and can be the outcome of acne, friction, and aesthetic treatments, such as laser and chemical peels. 

Causes of Pigmentation

Here are the key causes of pigmentation:

• Consistent sun exposure
• Pregnancy
• Allergies
• Inflammatory diseases
• Physical or chemical injuries
• Diabetes 
• Obesity
• Hormonal imbalance
• Aging

Impact on Self-esteem

Hyperpigmentation, in the form of melasma, leaves an impact on your self-esteem and lifestyle. They may lack the confidence to step outside their homes and talk to people. After getting the right aesthetic treatment, they got rid of melasma and started feeling much more confident than before. Pigmentation tends to have socio-psychological effects on the self-esteem of patients. 

The Science Behind Laser Treatment

Laser light energy increases the mitochondria, the cell powerhouse, to create more ATP so the cell gets more active. The light emitted from lasers can cause changes on a molecular or chemical level. 

How Laser Targets Pigmentation?

The laser targets the damaged tissues, removes dead skin cells, and boosts collagen production in your skin. Collagen keeps your skin healthy and supple. With the increase in melanin and decrease in collagen, brown spots appear on your skin. Laser treatment removes pigmentation and encourages the growth of new skin in its place. 

Laser Treatment Benefits Over Traditional Treatments for Pigmentation

Here are the key benefits you get with laser treatment for pigmentation:

• Apply concentrated light on hyperpigmentation
• Break down the melanin
• Flake off pigmented skin
• Even out complexion 
• Rejuvenate the overall skin
• Shrink large pores on your skin
• Reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines
• 1 or 2 sessions are enough to get the desired results
• Heal 4 to 21 days after the treatment 

Laser Treatment Vs. Chemical Peels for Skin Pigmentation

Both laser and chemical peel are effective treatments to remove skin pigmentation. The laser emits light beans to penetrate your skin and target either pigment or hemoglobin in your skin. The target pigment removes darl spots and age spots. 

Chemical peels involve using solutions of different strengths to remove your skin’s topmost layer. Peels are of usually three types – superficial, medium, and deep. Most chemical peels work at a medium level or superficially. Lasers are replacing super-deep chemical peels these days as they are a more precise pigmentation treatment method.