What is hyperpigmentation?

Hyperpigmentation is due to the presence of excessive melanin in the skin cells, reasons can be many. Sometimes, spots can take a decade or two to show up so if you’ve got hyperpigmentation making an appearance now the damage may actually have come from your childhood or teen years. Hyperpigmentation is a broad term.

Skin discoloration caused by acne blemishes, freckles into sunspots, or darkening of the skin due to conditions such as psoriasis and eczema all come under hyperpigmentation. Several women have pigmentation on their skin, especially in their 30s. This happens because of excess melanin production. But sometimes, the melanin production goes up and the skin ends up with uneven dark patches. Laser treatment is one of the most advanced treatments for removing unwanted pigmentation on the skin such as age spots, sun spots and freckles. Laser resurfacing is the skin pigmentation treatment of choice which can remove up to 80% of melanin:
• Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation
• Erythema due to prolonged heat exposure, for instance, usage of laptop placed on the thighs or lap when constantly using a laptop computer, or when a hot water pad or bottle is applied over a long duration of time to some part of the body
• Melasma – darkening of skin over the forehead and cheeks. Can happen during pregnancy or when using oral contraceptives
• Becker’s nevus
• Induced by medications like as minocycline, imipramine or amiodarone
• Endocrine disease like as Addison’s disease
• Accumulation of iron in the body, known as hemochromatosis or ‘bronze diabetes’, linked with skin darkening in 9 of 10 patients. Due to melanocyte stimulation by metals.
• Tanning due to ultraviolet or sunlight exposure
• Other conditions like as age spots, acanthosis nigricans and lentigines also cause darkening of the skin in specific places