What Causes Uneven Pigment?
Uneven pigmentation can be caused by many things: melasma (sun and hormones, pregnancy mask – see discussion above), pityriasis alba (white patches which are usually caused by dry spots which lose pigment), acne pimples, sun damage, and genetics.
Uneven pigment can be one of the most challenging things to treat and often requires multiple solutions: fastidious sun protection with zinc oxide based sunscreens, lightening agents (of which there are many, and often it is good to use more than one method to increase the chances of improvement), chemical peels, to cause cell turnover and speed up new skin development and sometimes lasers.
It is critical to know what is causing the hyperpigmentation as the solutions can be varied and sometimes even the causes of the hyperpigmentation are varied, so an accurate diagnosis is crucial.
