9 Amazing Tips to Brighten up your Skin & Remove Skin Pigmentation

You know you’ve been detailed and thorough about consistently sticking to your well-researched skincare routine.  So, what could be the reason why you’re seeing a hyper pigmented patch of skin on the sides of your cheek now?  Is there something wrong that you did?  More importantly, is there anything you can do now to reverse it immediately?

What causes skin pigmentation

Dark spots and hyper pigmentation appear due to the overproduction of melanin. These can either be superficial or located on the epidermis or deep, that is, located in the dermis layer.  Damages to the melanocytes, cells that produce melanin are the root causes of skin pigmentation which result from the following:

1.  Sun exposure.  The most common culprit for melanin getting out of control is UV exposure. Although the damage may show up 10 or 20 years later, the damage to the melanocyte is immediate.  This may explain the discoloration that you just noticed on your skin.

2.  Injury or post-inflammatory pigmentation.  This refers to darkened skin after injury, wounding, burning, scratching or acne.

3. Certain medications.  Some meds including antimalarial drugs, antipsychotic drugs and anticonvulsants are all known to have darkened skin as a side effect.

4. Diseases.  Some diseases, including those associated with poor functioning of the kidney and liver, result to visibly darker skin.

5. Stress. Extremely stressful situations cause skin to become patchy.  This explains why you get poor complexion when you are undergoing such situations.

6.  Hereditary.  Pigmented skin may be in your genes.

7.  Pregnancy and contraception.  Melasma is a well-documented skin condition that involves skin darkening during pregnancy.  In some cases, the darkening fades on its own after delivery while in some, it doesn’t.

How to prevent skin pigmentation

To effectively win back your skin against the causes of skin pigmentation, better yet, to prevent hyper pigmentation from happening in the first place, the following skincare tips are highly recommended:

1.  Avoid sun exposure.  A little bit of sun is required for your health but, too much sun exposure will cause countless irreversible damages to your skin.  Stay in the shade if you don’t have an important need to be under the sun.

2.  Wear broad spectrum sunscreen. Protect your skin from both short-term and long-term effects of sun exposure.  You have to appreciate the fact though that there is no amount of sunscreen that can give you absolute protection from UV.

3.  Add antioxidants to your routine.  Antioxidants have been proven to provide another layer of protection from damaging UV, as well as free radicals and blue light emitted by your tech devices.

4.  Use a skin lightening cream.  The most effective ingredients are retinol and hydroquinone but, use do not come without consequences.  Retinol is known to thin skin and cause it to become more photosensitive.  Hydroquinone, on the other hand, has been banned in many countries for fear of its carcinogenic potential. Hydroquinone-containing products, however, continue to be sold in the US.  Other beneficial ingredients are natural melanin-inhibiting components such as licorice, kojic acid and alpha hydroxy acids. Check the labels for mercury which is highly carcinogenic.  Do not use any product that contains this ingredient.

5.  Spot correct.  If you have problematic patches of skin, care to spot correct using a more concentrated form of the ingredients mentioned in the previous item.

6.  Brightening Face Mask.  Soak your skin in natural whitening ingredients that noticeably improves the appearance of dark marks and hyper pigmented skin to give you a desirable, flawless overall complexion.

7.  Clinic-based procedures.  Whereas before, laser was the only available option, these days, there are a number of minimally invasive and non-invasive procedures to more quickly turnover damaged skin and allow younger skin to show through. The most viable choices remain to be laser skin resurfacing technologies, chemical peels, and professionally administered bleaching.

8.  Oral supplementation.  Oral intake of antioxidants, most especially that of glutathione, causes skin to become whiter and rid of damage.

9.  Sleep.  Allow your skin to re-energize and rejuvenate.  Nothing can beat the power of a good night’s sleep in revitalizing tired, patchy and darkened skin.  Allow your skin cells to treat itself.

Conclusion

Follow these 9 tips to healthier, glowing skin.  Soon enough, you’ll wake up and say to yourself, “Wow! My dark spots are gone!”  After all, daily care and prevention are always a step ahead of finding cures and remedies.