How To Cure Melasma From The Inside?

Melasma, also known as chloasma or “mask of pregnancy” is a common occurrence in women.

There are many different treatments that promise to lighten your melasma patches over time, but most of these are applied locally to either bleach or remove the upper layer of skin.

These local treatments do not provide lasting relief from the dark spots and as soon as the treatment is stopped, melasma reappears in no time. If you have been in the same ship, wondering how to cure melasma from the inside for a lasting cure, read on.

Here, I will discuss with you all that you need to know about melasma and its cure.

What Is Melasma?

Melasma is not a health problem. It is more of a cosmetic problem. But the mental distress that a person suffering from melasma faces, is far more significant to warrant it properly, timely treatment.

Women suffering from melasma often have low self-confidence. They fear social gatherings and tend to confine themselves in isolation.

Melasma is predominantly found in women. Almost 90% of the cases of melasma are reported by women. While only 10% of cases are reported to be men.

Melasma can occur at any age. But it is most commonly found in middle-aged women. According to reports, the sooner this problem appears, the more time it takes to get rid of it. Women in their early 20s or 30s can have melasma for decades before it finally disappears.

Melasma manifests itself as dark brown or greyish patches that appear on the cheeks, nose, forehead, upper lips and the chin. The dark patches are often quite big and appear on both side of the face.

What Causes Melasma?

There are two main causes of melasma.

1. Hormonal Imbalance
2. Sun Exposure

Melasma is often caused due to imbalance in hormones (estrogen and progesterone). This can happen at any point of life, but most commonly it occurs during pregnancy and those taking contraceptive pills.

It is also noticed that melasma tend to appear more in people who have a darker skin tone. These people already have a large number of melanin-producing cells in their skin, so if, for any reason these cells become hyperactive, there are high chances of developing melasma.

Another main cause of having melasma is exposure to the sun. And this is by large the main factor for developing melasma.

Without having exposure to the sun, another factors can not initiate melasma on their own.

Most of the times, melasma patches do not appear until there is enough sun exposure. Heat and direct light are also responsible to cause melasma.

Other less significant factors that may aggravate melasma are stress, improper sleep, dehydration and lack of certain nutrients.

How To Cure Melasma From Inside?

The problem with melasma is that, it is mostly treated with the help of retinols and hydroquinone. While both these melasma treatments help to lighten the dark spots, they do not cure the root cause of the problem.

Retinol treatment increases the cell turnover process which removes the upper most cells of skin before time. This leads to removal of the top darker layer of skin. New cells from underneath take their place and the dark patch goes away.

Hydroquinone is a bleach that removes dark spots from the skin. Again, hydroquinone does not act on the root cause, but reduces the skin tone locally.

This is reason, it appears again after you stop using these things.

So, to get rid of melasma permanently you need to cure it from inside.

The first step to cure melasma from inside is to look for any internal factors causing it in the first place.

If it is because of pregnancy, then the marks will go away after delivery, if you are taking birth control pills, then you may have to switch to another form of contraception like IUD or condom.

It is very important to assess the situation beforehand to ascertain if there is any intrinsic cause of melasma. Because if there is something inside that is aggravating melasma and you overlook it, the problem will keep coming again and again.

Block The Sun To Cure Melasma Permanently

Now, this is a tricky part. As already discussed, melasma is not caused only aggravated by sunlight but heat and other forms of light also play a significant role in its development.

So to cure melasma from inside, shun the sun completely. Wear round hats with large brim, wear a scarf and always use umbrella under the sun.

Use physical sunscreen containing zinc and titanium dioxide. Physical sunscreens are particularly very effective in melasma because they make an invisible physical layer over your skin. This layer not only prevents from direct UV rays but also other wavelengths of light and heat.

Chemical sunscreens that are more common, have little to no benefit for people suffering from melasma.

How To Cure Melasma From Inside With Antioxidants

Antioxidants are good for your skin health. Take lycopene, vitamin e and vitamin a daily to reduce melasma from inside. These antioxidants repair damaged skin cells and lighten the spots caused due to melasma.

You can also apply vitamin e oil and castor oil by mixing together. Take one capsule of vitamin E and take out its oil in a teaspoon. Mix one teaspoon castor oil in it. Apply this mixture over your marks overnight and water in the morning with water. This is also a wonderful treatment to cure melasma from inside.

Adopt Healthy Habits to Cure Melasma from Inside

Adopting to healthy habits can play a big role in eliminating melasma from inside. So if you are not sure how to cure melasma from inside, adopt these habits:

1. drink lots of water
2. sleep for good 8 hours
3. avoid late night work/TV/mobile.
4. avoid alcohol/tobacco
5. eat simple vegetarian food
6. avoid fried food
7. always wear physical sunscreen when going out
8. regular cleansing of the skin
9. yoga/exercise
10. meditation to calm your mind.

The Bottom Line

Melasma is one of the most difficult skin problems to cure permanently. But with proper knowledge, patience and diligence you can get rid of it.

There are certain procedures that are becoming common these day for the treatment of melasma. These are laser treatments, microdermabrasion and chemical peal. These treatments are often marketed as a permanent cure for melasma, but in reality they do not give lasting results. And whatever results you get out of them, do not justify the amount of money that you pay for them.

So it advisable to steer away from such treatments and stick the more conservative and holistic approach.