Dark Spot Treatment Laser

5 THINGS You Should Know ABOUT LASERS

1. If this involves dealing with discoloration on brown skin, lasers are utilized as a last resort.

2. It isn't always a slam dunk. For example, "Melasma is triggered by heat and light, so if you're utilizing a source of light just like a laser, also is hot, it might stimulate your condition," alerts Burgess, a cofounder of Black Opal and Biocosmetic Research Labs.

3. We ought to avoid impulse light lasers. They are seen as the least forgiving and can result in burns.

4. Request about fractional lasers like the Fraxel RE: Store and also the Erbium. They are safer for all of us simply because they target more compact regions of pigment, leaving areas in between untouched.

5. Dark spot treatment laser remedies could be pricey-some are $800 to $1,000 per session.

Best Dark Spot Treatment Reviews--Products

Best Dark Spot Treatment Reviews: SPOT TREATMENTS

We tried out a few dark spot faders to see how well they work. Although many need up to 12 weeks for ideal results, we checked in after two to four weeks, which chemist Ni'Kita Wilson says is often an in-house benchmark for companies when creating formulas. What we found:

PRODUCT	CLAIM	KEY INGREDIENTS	TESTER REVIEW
Osmotics Cosmeceuticals Lighten FX 3x Dark Spot Remover ($58, dermstore.com)	Works to lighten brown spots fast, with triple-strength formula.	Niacinamide, alpha arbutin and new biopeptides that break up discoloration.	Tester used it on her abdomen and noticed a slight difference in just two weeks. She describes the area as looking much paler.
Luminaze Brilliant Serum Concentrate ($135, Nordstrom)	Lightens darks spots and brightens skin.	Enzyme extracted from a wild mushroom that grows on tree bark in the Swiss Alps.	In less than four weeks, dark spots slightly faded and a new blemish seemed to heal faster.
Avène D-Pigment Dark Spot Corrector ($49, drugstores)	Clears skin and reduces hyperpigmenation by 81% in three months.	Melanyde, which claims to have 10 times the lightening effectiveness of skin-lightening kojic acid.	After religiously applying the cream nightly to the neck for three weeks, tester says it significantly faded her melasma.
Neutrogena Rapid Tone Repair ($20, drugstores)	Reduces the appearance of dark spots and improves skin clarity and tone in seven days.	Accelerated Retinol SA (retinol SA, glucose complex and hyaluronic acid) and vitamin C.	Surprisingly, in a week, it started to fade dark spots left on legs from bug bites. Our tester sometimes used the nighttime treatment during the day.
Peter Thomas Roth De-Spot ($75, Sephora)	Reduces darkened area 14.2% within two weeks.	Illumiscin, niacinamide and ActiWhite, which is comparable to 2% hydroquinone.	After only two weeks, our tester saw fading on cheeks, and overall, her skin was smoother.
Bremenn Dark Spot Eraser ($59, Ulta)	Minimizes the appearance of existing and future dark spots.	Candida, titanium dioxide and diacetyl boldine, which are all skin lighteners.	Our tester was also taking skin-healing zinc supplements at the time, but she considers this the fastest dark spot corrector she's used in 10 years.

Best Dark Spot Treatment--Spot Peel

Best Dark Spot Treatment--Spot Peel

In The DERMATOLOGIST'S OFFICE: Derms are looking forward to the DermaCeutic Spot Peel. Popular in the Middle East, it's gaining ground stateside.

"The very first time there exists a spot peel which has a unique combination of ingredients that we obtain high effectiveness, no down time and no unwanted effects," describes New York City dermatologist Bruce Katz, M.D.

The peel, that is left on the face for just two minutes, consists of alpha and beta hydroxy acids, mandelic acid and idebenone, probably the most effective anti-oxidants for overcoming the harmful results of toxins.

Following an initial application, patients keep a solution on for eight hrs. "It's this type of multimodal approach that actually gives much more benefits than the usual single-ingredient peel," states Katz.

Another advantage: You can save money over time. Other peels usually take 4 to 6 sessions before one sees a substantial difference.

At $300 or even more per visit, expenses can also add up rapidly.

However, you'll only pay $300 to $400 for that DermaCeutic treatment, which might require only one peel session in the doctor's office, then a 30-day at home regimen which includes a spot treatment (at 1 / 3 the effectiveness of the in-office version), skin cleansers and moisturizers.

"Since the ingredients aren't harsh and therefore are in low concentration, the peel is fantastic for skin of color," adds Katz.



Best Dark Spot Treatment--Fade Remedies vs. Brighteners

"The main difference between faders and brighteners is mainly the effectiveness of the ingredients used," describes chemist Ni'Kita Wilson."

Correctors, which are utilized to spot-treat, tend to be more concentrated with greater amounts of skin-clearing ingredients.



Brighteners have lower levels of active ingredients and therefore are typically utilized on the whole face to exfoliate."

The decision: Adjust your expectation. Choose the dark spot treatment for those who have serious pigment issues, and switch to brighteners, like NARSskin Illuminated, to exfoliate, to refine skin cells and also to reveal a radiant glow.



Best Dark Spot Treatment--THE DERMACEUTIC Spot Peel

Doctors are achieving great results with this particular cosmetic procedure.

BEFORE

Patient had scattered discoloration on forehead, cheeks.

AFTER

Spots were noticeably lighter and complexion evened out.

Best Dark Spot Treatment--The Latest Treatments

Best Dark Spot Treatment--From the Experts

Fortunately for all of us, companies have stepped up their efforts on the hyperpigmentation front, giving us more options than ever before to erase dark  spots.

But do they work?

We have spoken to the experts to discover what treatment breakthroughs have been made, and set a couple of products through our very own road test.

Read onto discover which method works best for you.


Best Dark Spot Treatment--Cause

We mainly suffered from postinflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH), that is discoloration triggered by injuries or irritation.

"Regardless of what color you are, everyone has the same number of pigment cells, known as melanocytes," describes board licensed dermatologist Cheryl M.

Burgess, M.D., founder of the Center for Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery in Washington, D.C.

"What makes our color different is the little globs of pigment within the melanocytes, that are known as melanosomes.

The bigger and much more numerous they're, the darker the skin is." And also the more prone you're to discoloration issues.


Best Dark Spot Treatment--Hydroquinone

However questionable hydroquinone might be-an unwanted effect could be a light halo ring that forms during spot treatments or an adverse reaction leading to more darkened skin-our experts still refer to it as the gold standard treatment for PIH.

"No long-term unwanted effects have been verified,states Jeanine Downie, M.D., a dermatologist in Montclair, NJ.

"And such things as the halo occur with improper application."

Frequent follow-ups along with a limit on how long someone is on the hydroquinone regimen help to ensure safety.

Miami-based dermatologist Andrea Trowers, M.D., uses formulations of eight to ten percent to attain significant results in a shorter time period:

"I typically use compounded formulations [custom-made strengths ordered by a physician], which let me use more powerful strength of hydroquinone than can be found in a regular pharmacy."


Best Dark Spot Treatment--Titanium Dioxide

SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion Ultra violet Defense SPF 50

Sunscreen: "It ought to have a physical blocker for example micronized zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide," describes Trowers.

But how about the ashy appearance it leaves? "Now you will find micronized options where the physical blockers are ground into fine particles, reducing that white cast and giving better coverage," notes Trowers.

Certainly one of her favorites for brown skin is SkinCeuticals Physical Fusion Ultra violet Defense SPF 50 ($32, skinceuticals.com).


Best Dark Spot Treatment--What's New?

IN products: Most remedies that lighten skin work by disturbing the production of melanin.

What this means is obstructing tyrosinase, the melanin-creating enzyme. However it works out that all melanin isn't the same.

"Eumelanin can be found in darker skins and pheomelanin can be found in fair skin," describes Ni'Kita Wilson, a cosmetic chemistry expert at beautysage.com. A difference may be the enzyme lignin peroxidase.

Initially accustomed to lighten wood for paper production, it's derived naturally from a kind of fungus or mushroom.

The main difference with this particular component is how it affects hyperpigmentation: It targets and breaks down existing eumelanin rather than just preventing future production.

The enzyme could do miracles for existing marks. Presently it's in Luminaze and trademarked as Melanozyme within the Elure lines of lighteners.

Others also have switched to mushrooms for achievement.

The songyi mushroom has been utilized in Asia for hundreds of years like a skin lightener, and today its extract is incorporated in the new Palmer's Eventone skincare line.

Shinto All Evens Out products use beta glucans, present in mushrooms, to revitalize skin cells.