Acne Blemishes Caused by Hyperpigmentation After Acne Resolves

What Is Hyperpigmentation?
What Is Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation?
Causes of Hyperpigmentation
Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation Treatments
Natural Hyperpigmentation Treatment

Pigmentation is the coloring of a person's skin. When a person is healthy, his or her skin will appear normal in color. In the case of illness or injury, the person's skin may change color, becoming darker (hyperpigmentation) or lighter (hypopigmentation). Inflammation caused by acne lesions may lead to post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

What Is Hyperpigmentation?

Hyperpigmentation is usually harmless and characterized by patches of skin becoming darker in color than the normal surrounding skin. This darkening occurs when an excess of melanin, the brown pigment that produces normal skin color, forms deposits in the skin.

Hyper-pigmentation easily affects people with darker skin tones, such as Latinos or South Asian but it is not unique to them as it can affect the skin color of people of any race.

Hyperpigmentation is caused by an increase in melanin (or in medical terms: melanosis), the substance in the body that is responsible for color (pigment).

Our skin has cells that contain the pigment that gives us our skin color. These cells are call melanocytes (they produce the skin pigment). If we have lighter areas on our skin it indicates that there are not enough melanocytes or that they are not active. On the other hand, if there are darker areas, it indicates the opposite - too many or overactive cells.

The good news is that there are many effective ways to eliminate the deposition of excess melanin. In many cases, it is as simple as applying a melanin reducer and melanin inhibitor cream in the evening and using sun block in the morning. But first, let us take a look at the problem first and then we will suggest some simple remedies.

Types of Hypepigmentation

First of all, there are the darkest spots, technically called melasma and the lighter spots simply called decolorations. They are treated differently and in this article we are going to talk thorougly only about spots left behind after acne has resolved or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. These dark areas, dark spots or macules (as Dermatologists like to call them) may remain a long time after acne clears.

Melasma, also known as chloasma is characterized by tan or brown patches, most commonly on the face. Melasma can occur in pregnant women and is often called the "mask of pregnancy;" however, men can also develop this condition. Melasma frequently goes away after pregnancy. Melasma is often associated with the female hormones estrogen and progesterone. so women who are taking birth control pills and women taking hormone replacement therapy during menopause may be affected.

Freckles: they are clusters of concentrated melanin which are most often visible on people with a fair complexion. The formation of freckles is triggered by exposure to sunlight.

Age spots: these lesions are flat, tan, brown, or dark brown spots on sun-exposed skin. As people age, sun spots most commonly appear on the backs of the hands, the forearms, neck, chest, and face. Sun spots are associated with cumulative sun exposure.

What is postinflammatory hyperpigmentation?

Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or PIH, is the medical term given to discoloration of the skin that follows an immoderate inflammatory response to acne lesions. It is the skin's natural response to inflammation. PIH presents itself as a flat area of discoloration on the skin (macule) ranging from pink to red, purple, brown or black, depending on your skin tone and depth of the discoloration.

PIH develops when a wound, rash, pimple, or other stimuli causes skin inflammation, which triggers the skin to produce too much melanin.

Again, melanin is the protein in the skin that gives the skin its color. The excess melanin darkens and discolors the injured area. This discoloration remains even after the wound or rash has healed. PIH occurs in is very common among acne sufferers. It can occur with certain illness such as Edison's disease and some hepatic problems. If someone is taking too much iron, for instance, it can cause darker areas on the skin. It is also associated to some allergic reactions, mechanical injuries, reactions to medications, phototoxic eruptions, trauma (eg, burns), and inflammatory diseases (eg, lichen planus, lupus erythematosus, atopic dermatitis). PHI can occur in all skin types, although it is more common in darker skin tones. It affects both men and women equally.

PIH and Acne

A post inflammatory hyperpigmentation macule is often the remnant of an inflamed acne lesion. PIH macules can follow relatively minor pimples and papules, in addition to more serious lesions. However, the more inflamed a breakout, the larger and darker the PIH macule tends to be. Picking or popping a pimple increases the chance of developing post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

You can identify post inflammatory hyperpigmentation by carefully examining the skin. PIH macules can be a range of colors; however, the skin will not be pitted or depressed. It may look like a discolored freckle on the skin, or it may present as a larger, dark discoloration of the skin. PIH macules may look shiny, or like "new skin."

How is post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation caused?

PIH is caused by 1 of 2 mechanisms that result in either epidermal melanosis or dermal melanosis. The epidermal inflammatory response (ie, dermatitis) results in the release and subsequent oxidation of arachidonic acid to prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and other products. These products of inflammation alter the activity of both immune cells and melanocytes. Specifically, these inflammatory products stimulate epidermal melanocytes, causing them to increase the synthesis of melanin and subsequently to increase the transfer of pigment to surrounding keratinocytes. Such increased stimulation and transfer of melanin granules results in epidermal hypermelanosis.

On the contrary, dermal melanosis occurs when inflammation disrupts the basal cell layer, causing melanin pigment to be released and subsequently trapped by macrophages in the papillary dermis, also known as pigmentary incontinence.

The treatment of PIH tends to be a difficult and prolonged process that often takes 6-12 months to achieve the desired results of depigmentation. Most treatments improve epidermal hypermelanosis, but none is proven effective for dermal hypermelanosis.

Daily use of a broad-spectrum sunscreen (sun protection factor [SPF] 15 or greater) is an essential part of any therapeutic regimen.

Whatever form of hyper pigmentation you may have, you must remember that exposing unevenly pigmented skin to the sun can only make problems worse. Acne, freckles, age spots or melasma only become darker or larger. What happens is that melanin absorbs ultraviolet rays in order to protect the skin. Usually, this process is called tanning, but in the case of hyper pigmentation, it can cause any dark patches to become even darker.

Acne lesions usually leave behing epidermal hypermelanosis. Dermal hypermelanosis is infrequent among acne sufferers.

Treatment of Hyperpigmentation

A variety of topical treatments have been used to treat epidermal PIH, with varying degrees of success. These agents include hydroquinone, tretinoin cream, corticosteroids, glycolic acid (GA), azelaic acid and trichloroacetic acid.

Lightening of hyperpigmented areas may be achieved with one of those topical agents; however, a combination of topical creams and gels, chemical peels or skin resurfacing with a microdermabrasion cream, and sunscreens may be necessary for significant improvement.

Resurfacing of the skin

Unevenly pigmented skin cells are stuck on the skin's surface which means skin resurfacing procedures can easily get to and remove them to uncover normally pigmented skin underneath. Of all these treatments for getting rid of uneven skin tone, microdermabrasion is, without a doubt, the least invasive procedure. What microdermabrasion does is peel off a very fine layer of skin by sandblasting it with a flow of aluminum oxide micro crystals.

You wouldn't think that would be enough to even out skin tone but it does help. In some cases, though, these cells are deeper in the skin and not so easily removed with microdermabrasions.

Darker sun spots, for example, can be improved but not fade completely. If you have severe hyper pigmentation you may have to look at other treatments.

Microdermabarasion also improves cell turnover which helps with the irregular pigmentation. The quicker old, unevenly pigmented cells are shed, the quicker they are replaced by new, normally-pigmented skin cells.

Many people try microdermabrasion once and give up in disappointment. Because this exfoliation is so superficial you can expect to see results after 10-12 abrasions.

Microdermabrasion for skin resurfacing can also be done with BIOSKINEXFOL, our home microdermabrasion cream at home. Physical exfoliation of the top 10 or so microns of skin helps to penetrate more easily the outer layer of the skin into the epidermis and the basal layer, while it also polishes the surface and makes it look and feel softer and more even.

You may find it is not a quick fix, but then there is none for acne scars or deep skin hyperpigmentation, but it has none of the risks of prescription products or professional / surgical procedures. For more information about the cream and how it is applied click: microdermabrasion for acne scar treatment or acne scar treatment.

This press release also explains why our acne scar treatment creams with the natural organic skin care serum show remarkable results.

Treatments for more serious hyperpigmentation

For serious forms of uneven skin tone here are two treatment methods:

● Laser resurfacing - Normal laser skin resurfacing works by evaporating the first few layers of damaged skin to leave behind a fresh, evenly toned skin. Hydroquinone or mild chemical peels are often recommended before laser resurfacing for best results. Intense Pulsed Light - IPL is a type of laser that leaves no scars, can sometimes heal freckles or other mild sun spots without using peels or hydroquinone creams beforehand.

● Hydroxy Acid Peels - They increase cell renewal rate and correct hyper pigmentation marks. Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs) are water soluble acids and can help remove hyper pigmentation, while Beta Hydroxy Acids (BHAs) are lipid soluble acids and increase the rate of exfoliation but are not particularly known to remove hyper pigmentation.

All Natural Cream for Hyperpigmentation

You can now gradually diminish post acne marks, even pitted acne scars with a unique biological serum made by a living creature to guard its skin agains environmental hazards, infection by micro-organisms and excess solar radiation and to repair and regenerate its skin, which is very similar to human skin.

The serum is embodied in an all natural skin care cream that is effective in healing acne while also gently dissolving scars and rebuilding the site with new collagen and elastin. The serum also has important antioxidant activity, improves the organization of the structures within cells, and induces the proliferation and activation of senescent fibroblasts.

When the organic serum is combined with a melanin deposit inhibitor and a melanin deposit reducer we have a natural solution the gradual resolution of hyperpigmentation and of course for post inflammatory hyperpigmentation or acne discoloration.

BIOSKINREJUVENATION is a deeply moisturizing natural skin care cream that triggers the regeneration of cells damaged by UV radiation and free radicals and gets rid of brown, sun, and age spots and melasma blotchy pigmentation. It brightens and evens skin tone and vanishes all types of skin blemishes.

Nature has never corrected problems with quick fixes, because there's no such thing. Only with repeated action, little by little, in a way similar to how an oyster creates a precious pearl, beauty can be restored if the cream is applied with discipline every day.

The application of the cream twice a day yields the following benefits:

a) Promotes cell proliferation and new synthesis of collagen and elastin from within the skin

b) Helps remodel and speed turnover of the basal membrane of the skin

c) Protects from the effects of UVA radiation

d) Powerful enzymatic antioxidant activity by both Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Glutathione S-transferase (GSH-T)

e) Acts as an anti-inflammatory as it metabolizes or breaks down the denatured proteins into its amino-acid components, which otherwise cause inflammaging, and releases those aminoacids that can be then used by your system to rebuild healthier skin structures

f) Protects skin by activity of low molecular antioxidants that have similar effects than those of Vitamin C but without the pitfalls or instability of cosmetics that contain Vitamin C

g) Blocks melanin synthesis and reduces the formation of unwanted pigmentation, allowing control over skin tone and brown spots. It helps with pigmented spots such as freckles, solar lentigines (also called liver spots), brown and cafe-au-lait spots, moles, and melasma (localized post-partum darkening of the skin)

h) Replenishes the lipid barrier of the skin

i) Hydrates the skin and promotes the proliferation of glycosaminoglycans and proteoglycans, the molecules that hold water in the skin from within and firm and strengthen sagging skin

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