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Melasma: Many Treatments and Names

Fighting Melasma Article Series, Two of Three

Melasma goes by many names including chloasma, age spots, hyper-pigmentation, and mask of pregnancy. The condition is not dangerous or contagious and the types of treatment range from topical products to laser treatments to a detox. Most of these treatments don't eliminate melasma altogether, but they will improve your skin's fitness.

Your melasma skin care regimen should include the following two steps of products and treatments.

Obtain skin treatments to improve your melasma

There are three skin treatments that an esthetician at a skin spa can provide that will minimize the appearance of melasma and improve the overall look of your skin including chemical peels, pulse light therapy, and laser treatment. All skin treatments should be done in a series since it takes about six weeks for complete cell renewal.

A chemical peel is composed of glycolic, retin-A, alphahydroxy, trichloroacetic, and phenol acids, and will exfoliate the superficial layers of the skin and encourage healthy, new cell growth. Your skin will absorb skin brightening products better with an aggressive exfoliation like this, another benefit.

To penetrate the skin, pulse light therapy uses special wavelength of light. The light's heat encourages blood vessels to disappear.

Laser treatments are successful in treating melasma because it is able to reach the lower layers of your skin. The laser encourages new cell growth and collagen production providing firmer and brighter skin.

Using products that will make melasma disappear

There are dozens of skin brightening, skin bleaching, and skin exfoliating products that advertise amazing dark spot removal. Although these products may lighten your melasma, you should not expect it to work miracles. There are four product types you should use in your melasma skin care plan.

One way for the skin to reduce the amount of melanin produced, topical brighteners and bleaches containing alpha and beta hydroxyl acids should be absorbed. Alpha and beta hydroxyl acids contained in topical brighteners and bleaches are absorbed in the skin, which is one way the amount of melanin produced is reduced. Particularly beneficial are some products that contain hydroquinone, which has proven more than many other ingredients, to correct discoloration.

Another step is to use a gentle exfoliating scrub is important because it removes dead skin cells leaving healthier cells on the surface. Using a scrub two to three times a week encourages new cell growth and like a chemical peel allows brighteners and bleaches to be absorbed more efficiently.

To calm redness and neutralize the skin's color choose a moisturizer that includes vitamin B3 and botanicals as elements. To aid in fighting off free radicals in the environment, many products also contain antioxidants like vitamins C and E.

Last, but definitely not least, apply sun block (If exposed) to your face, ears, hands, and chest every day. If you are using a bleaching agent the skin cells have lost some or all of their pigment making this particularly important. UVA and UVB rays from the sun will worsen your melasma.

In fighting melasma, skin treatments and skin care products are just two factors. In the first and third articles of the Fighting Melasma series, more melasma removal information is discussed.

Article Source: http://www.uberarticles.com/articles

Author Sara Musfeldt created SkinFitnessFacts.com to help people obtain fit skin. Her website has info on melasma treatments, male melasma, and help figuring out if it's melasma or freckles. You can get a unique content version of this article.

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