While freckles are a celebrated, beautiful feature, for some people evidence of the sun impacting on their skin is not desirable. UV (ultraviolet) rays from the sun can lead to sunburns, dark spots, uneven skin tones and skin cancers, so protecting our skin is essential. The colour of our skin, hair and eyes comes from melanin, the skin pigment that protects us from UV rays.
There are two kinds of melanin: This melanin is what can cause hyperpigmentation, a skin reaction that occurs when melanin is overproduced, resulting in localised skin discoloration or darkening. These patches - age spots, sunspots, liver spots, or melasma - may appear brown, black, grey, red or pink and they can occur in just one area, or all over the body. They should not be painful or itchy, and several different conditions or factors can alter the production of melanin in your body.
Hyperpigmentation can be triggered or exacerbated by sun exposure (sunspots, freckles or melasma), hormonal changes (melasma or pregnancy mask) or skin inflammation (acne, eczema, psoriasis) and mechanical damage (chronic picking or scratching). You can prevent hyperpigmentation by taking the following steps: Without a VERY strict sun protection routine, hyperpigmentation is unlikely to improve and is VERY likely to return after a successful treatment. While you can treat or at least improve hyperpigmentation in many cases, it is not always possible.
Pigmentation is hard to treat because melanin is found deep within the sk.
