What To Know About Skin Pigmentation
Skin pigmentation is a disorder that affects the color balance of the skin cells affected by melanin production. Low or High Melanin production usually occurs when skin cells are damaged. Melanin, which is produced by skin cells, is what basically determines the skin color. Having no stable color pigment produced, various skin spots of different shades tend to appear unevenly on the skin. Lighter patches of skin color may appear due to low melanin creation while too much of it will produce dark patches on the skin.
There are several factors that may result to skin pigmentation such as exposure to the sun unprotected, pregnancy and Addison’s disease. Melasma, Age Spots, Solar Lentigo and Vitiligo are the most accounted classifications of skin pigmentation usually found on most patients. Cases can range from Epidermal and Dermal conditions. Epidermis of the skin is determined as an Epidermal condition. Dermal on the other hand is a classification where the discoloration goes deeper into the skin tissue.
Melasma is commonly factored in when there are several dark spots on the skin which are highly noticeable and uneven which are usually found on the face. Common known causes of melasma would be excessive sun exposure and pregnancy. Usually, Melasma is treated using topical chemical peels or for more advanced cases, it is treated by diamond peels and laser treatments.
Age spots, liver spots or sun spots are usually noted by most as a regular skin condition but these are actually classified as a form of skin Hyperpigmentation medically known as Solar Lentigo. Solar Lentigo is basically caused by overexposure to the sun without proper protection. This type of skin disorder is mostly seen on people who are in their 50’s or 60’s. This condition, though it may look natural, would need to be treated with more advanced measures like cryosurgery and laser.
Lighter patches as opposed to darker patches occur due to the shortage of Melanin production in the skin which would be a disorder called Vitiligo. Cases can become severe spanning to various very light or even white toned patches completely the opposite of a person’s normal skin color. People with darker skin tones usually are more subject to this type of skin pigmentation. There is still no concrete cause determined by experts on this type of skin condition. For people undergoing this type of skin pigmentation, most reports are due to sun burns while some are suspected to be hereditary, genetic, immunologic and neurogenic.
For all known causes of skin Hyperpigmentation, the most frequent factor would be due to sun exposure. Without the correct amount of sun protection, skin cells are most likely to be damaged. It is highly recommended that sun screen is used, specifically those with high SPF formulation.
