Ways to Prevent Skin Pigmentation Disorders

Human skin color is due to melanin present in the skin, which is a brown color pigment present inside melanocytes. Different races have different amounts of pigment in them. Apart from melanin, other substances like carotene and hemoglobin also impart color to the skin. According to the skin color, the skin is divided into 6 different types from white to black, which differentiates between different races.

Types of Pigmentation:

An individual has two different types of pigmentation. The types of pigmentation are:

1. Facultative - This is inherited.
2. Exogenous - This occurs due to sun exposure.

Pigmentations that are inherited cannot be altered, but exogenous pigmentation due to excessive sunlight exposure can be controlled. Sunlight exposure can lead to different pigmentary disorders like melasma, freckles, lentigo, etc.

How to Improve the Skin Tone?

For improving skin tone, the most important thing is protection from sunlight. Some tips to protect yourself from the sun and to improve skin tone are as follows:

• Appropriate clothing to protect from sunlight is important especially, in those individuals who are sensitive to the sun and get sunburn easily. Properly woven clothes with broad-brimmed hats are very important for this purpose.

• A good sunscreen with SPF 60 should be applied evenly and frequently, 30 minutes before going out. Physical sunscreens like zinc oxide give more protection than chemical sunscreen.

• Vitamin C preparation is antioxidant. It scavenges free radicals in our skin and helps to improve the skin tone.

• For other pigmentation problems like melasma, bleaching agents or skin lightening agents like Hydroquinone can be used, but it can also have side effects on the skin. A combination of Hydroquinone with Hydrocortisone and Retinol is better in lightening the skin tone.

• Glycolic acid and other natural beta hydroxy acids can also improve skin tone.

• Nowadays, lasers like Q-switched laser are used for pigmentary disorders like melasma, freckles, and lentigines.

Diffuse pigmentation in the body can also occur due to any underlying disease and systemic causes like liver disorder, kidney disorder, malignancies, drugs, and endocrine problems.