Hydroquinone Dark Spot Treatment Controversy

Best Dark Spot Treatment—Hydroquinone Controversy

In 2006 Food and Drug Administration proposed to prohibit probably the most generally used skin-bleaching component, hydroquinone, that the agency cleared to be used in 1982.

Safety and misuse concerns motivated its removal in Japan, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

Although hydroquinone continues to be considered safe within the United States, and as for its effectiveness, nothing can beat it,the Food and Drug Administration proposal helped driving interest in gentler natural treatments.

"I've women come in and are frustrated," states Sherri Manley, a San Francisco Sephora color and skincare specialist with fifteen years experience in the industry. "They are peeling and burning using dark spot treatment products in their doctor's office."



Dark Spots from Contraceptive Pills—“Mask of Pregnancy”

Dr. Richard Glogau, a San Francisco dermatologist and UCSF professor, says he's observed a rise in patients coming to his office seeking dark spot treatment to hyperpigmentation. He attributes the rise to more women being of mixed ancestry and also the prevalence of long-term contraception pill use that triggers hormonal changes and can lead to melasma, a hyperpigmentation also called the mask of pregnancy.

"The pigment systems are simply more responsive," he says. "There's greater demand as well as an unmet need, and cosmetic companies have determined there's lots of money to make here."

Though no studies have been completed to study the links of growing ethnic diversification, long-term contraception pill use and hyperpigmentation, Glogau's theory is plausible, Howard University's Callender says.

"It's more prevalent in multiracial skin."

So what's available, and will they work? That is dependent from case to case, say doctors and cosmetic companies alike.

Additionally, it is dependent on which the problem is. Sun spots, Glogau says, would be the easiest to treat. For anything much deeper, especially melasma, a physician remains the  one who are able to prescribe something more powerful.