Pigmentation Treatment

The treatment usually depends upon the cause of pigmentations. There are various causes for the pigmentations including hormonal, sunexposure, certain medications, genetic conditions, birthmarks, inflammations of the skin, chronic illnesses and health conditions like Addison’s disease. The mode of treatment and the expected results are usually based on the possible causative factors for the pigmentation.

This can be localised in single or multiple patches, in segmental pattern or more diffuse depending again on the cause of the pigmentation.

One important thing is our natural individual skin tone is determined by genetic factors (multiple genes from both parents) and there are changes on it as we grow older. These changes are usually treated more effectively while the pigmentations due to genetic factors (like birthmarks, moles etc) are more difficult to treat. The choice of modality of treatment will usually depend on the causative factors.

The multiple modalities used for treating the pigmentation in the clinic (apart from home care creams containing trenaximic acid, niacinamide etc) effectively are –

Chemical Peeling – Different type of solutions or gels are used in this procedure. The selction of the agent depends upon the patient skin type and sensitivity. This is applied in the clinic and left for a certain time and then cleansed off. The patient feels a bit warmth and will experience peeling of the skin over the next few days. It allows to increase the tunover of the skin ceels and give rise to a fresher looking skin.

Microneedling – This ia a office procedure which produces a controlled inflammation of the skin using a device with multiple needles and helps in infusion of active medicines inside the skin. The results with this procedure are due to the needling itself causing collagen regeneration and increasing the blood flow apart from the active molecules infused into the skin.

Mesotherapy – This procedure involves using the active solutions to be injected directly into the affected part and hence giving a concentrated localised action to achieve pigmentation control, shining or oil control.

Lasers – These are considered the most effective modalities. Among them Pico lasers and Q switched lasers have been effectively used for pigmentary disturbances of all types. Also, fractional lasers like Fractional Thulium lasers have been combined to get better results.

The choice of modalities depend upon the patient condition and also the experience of the dermatologist using them.