Hyperpigmentation And Dark Spots

Hyperpigmentation has two main causes. It can be induced by products or procedures, or appear as a consequence of more natural processes like aging or pregnancy. Timing can give you some useful clues. If hyperpigmentation appears all of a sudden, that is, in a six months period you have acquired a lot of spots and blotches, indicates a strong probability that either a procedure or product (or both) or other external cause has been involved.

You can have a good chance of reverse this condition if the sudden onset has appeared recently. If the pigmentation came on relatively fast but is long standing, then it is probably deep in the dermis. Approximately 40% of the pigmentation excess will affect the epidermis; the other 60% will affect the dermis, and will be much more difficult to treat. In pregnant women, where a melasma or chloasma (a darker pigmented, continuous area, with uneven dimensions) occurs, the pigment will usually 'wash out' over a year.

Another condition that works in this way is simple aging, where the onset of hyperpigmentation or just plain blotchy skin, pigment deposits and uneven tone is a function primarily of insufficient epidermal protein growth. For that reason, and others, you will find that in almost all sudden onset cases where an environmental agent is at work, the common denominator turns out to be an acid-based topical regime or exfoliation series (including scrubs, enzyme peels, micro-dermabrasion).

In these latter instances, the epidermis could not sustain new, healthy protein growth, because the exfoliations occurred at a much faster rate. As a result, the skin suddenly lost its resiliency and softness and took on a more rigid, parchment feel and look. Other consequences of this appear as blotchy, uneven tone and spots. These can affect very deep skin layers.

Which is all to say, hyperpigmentation is the visible evidence of a number of imbalances. The question is, as in skin rejuvenation, how to recover a desirable look and restore the balance.

If you discover the sudden onset of a solitary flat spot of even color tone, hyperpigmentation treatment is not what you should look for. More likely, that can be a visible manifestation of a pre-cancerous atrophic keratosis. This is not alarming visible evidence IF this appears when under a therapeutic regime, which may actually have 'lighted up' the area.

Hyperpigmented crusty nodes may be hypekeratolytic (or hyperkeratotic) keratosis, which is a pre-cancerous condition as well. Freckles and moles that have been in the skin for a long time tend to have a benign nature, but a close monitoring must be performed for those in the skin cancer susceptible groups.

If you are suffering one of these problems, don't despair. Biological treatments are available for the alleviation of these conditions, even if chemical solutions have already done more harm than good to your skin.