Melasma – also known as ‘chloasma’, is a chronic skin pigmentary disorder that can cause dark patches on the skin, especially on the face and upper lip. It is commonly seen in middle-aged Asians.
What is Melasma?
Melasma appears as splotchy patches varying in shape and size, normally on both cheeks, upper nose, forehead and above the lip. Genetics, UV radiation, pregnancy, hormonal therapies are common contributing factors.
UV radiation causes development of free radicals that damage the structures of the skin. It breaks down the collagen as well as weakens our skin basement membrane leading to building up of abnormal blood vessels. This in turn triggers the pigment cells to overproduce the pigments in the skin.
What causes Melasma?
The cause melasma is not fully understood. It occurs when pigment cells in the skin (melanocytes) produce too much pigments.
This happens when pigment cells are constantly being triggered by the skin environment and the current skin condition. Skin that has basement membrane that is weakened by long term sun exposure, aging and surrounded by abnormal blood vessels are prone to be irritated and overly-producing pigments.
This skin condition is usually exacerbated by hormonal changes (pregnancy, taking birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy (HRT)). Incompatible product skincare could potentially trigger the development of melasma on the skin as well.
Melasma Treatments
Melasma are generally hard to treat even with the best picosecond lasers. However, combination therapy with Skin Lasers (Picogenesis, PicoSure, Aerolase, Dual Yellow etc), Skin Restoration Devices (Sylfirm, Sylfirm X) and Clique Prescriptive care is the formula for Clique Clinic’s success in treating the most difficult melasma cases.
Clique Multimodality Melasma Treatment
Treatment for melasma can be challenging. Traditional laser treatments use high energies causing destructive heat damages to skin tissues which can lead to long term side effects. Therefore many melasma treatments ended up in more sereve conditions causing the public to fear of laser treatments.
Picosecond lasers such as PicoGenesis®, PicoSure® use pulse durations in trillionth-of-a-second-domain, which cause significantly lesser heat damage, are safest to clear melasma.
Recent studies found that fibroblasts aging, basement membrane damage, and accumulation of abnormal blood vessels are the main causes of melasma. Without tackling these root causes, pigment cells continue to actively produce pigments leading to rebound even after successful clearance.
Sylfirm, and it’s most advanced version, Sylfirm X, allow us to treat all these by promoting new fibroblasts, repair the basement membrane and eliminate the abnormal blood vessels. This helps us to control melasma better by stabilizing the pigment cells.
Clique Multimodal Melasma Treatment has seen significant results in dealing with melasma and complicated pigmentary disorders. Combining picosecond laser (Pico Genesis or PicoSure) and pulsed microneedling RF (Sylfirm, Sylfirm X), you would get the fastest way to eliminate existing pigments safely, at the same time to prevent pigment cells from worsening or even recurring prematurely.
This unique combination is available at Clique Clinic, and is your gateway to a clearer skin that is long lasting.
References:
1. A review of combined treatments for melasma involving energy-based devices and proposed pathogenesis-oriented combinations. Joseph N. Mehrabi, Efrat Bar-Ilan, Shehadeh Wasim, Amir Koren, Lior Zusmanovitch, Fares Salameh, Gila Isman Nelkenbaum, Tamir Horovitz, Eyal Zur RPh, Ting Song Lim, Jacob Mashiah, Ofir Artzi. J Cosmet Dermatol. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.14110
2. Goldie K, Kerscher M, Fabi SG, Hirano C, Landau M, Lim TS, Woolery-Lloyd H, Mariwalla K, Park JY, Yutskovskaya Y. Skin Quality – A Holistic 360° View: Consensus Results. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2021;14:643-654. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S309374