Melasma Remedies

I don't know what brought my Melasma on three years ago. I tried everything, I was so discouraged. I couldn't put anymore energy into it. I had already been eating very healthy for years (organic veg and fruits, grass fed beef, free range chicken....) I just by chance cured my Melasma on accident. I read the book Wheat Belly, stopped eating wheat right away. I also started taking vitamin D3 supplements. Actually it is a combination of Vit D, Calcium and magnesium (Trader Joes brand to be exact). I was dreading summer, because that's when it got the darkest. BTW, I had been using sunscreen for 2 years.

Looking back, I know it didn't help, just getting hot would bring it out! This is the first summer I noticed it Was diminishing. It HAS to be the diet change. I am convinced it was my gut health. If you've read anything on how unhealthy wheat is, you know it blocks nutrition absorption. The minute I stopped the wheat and took vitamins, my skin transformed. It can't be a coincidence. I don't even wear sunscreen under my makeup anymore. My friends and family noticed right away. FYI, I only use coconut oil on my face every night. I don't even wash it off. I rub all over, wipe with a tissue. I also use it to take off my mascara. I don't think the coconut oil cured my melasma though, I think I was missing vitamins and minerals that my skin desperately needed! Just had to share, possibly to help someone else :)

I have suffered with melasma for almost ten years. I seriously have tried everything. It has made me feel so depressed and frustrated, lately it's even been more depressing because it has appeared above my upper lip.

With my last visit to the determologist with yet another set of medications. That did nothing except burn my skin. I started to research different oils that have helped people. I have to say they've been such a great help. From the rose hip oil to the one I think works the best frankincense and even sandalwood. The have faded my melasma a ton and worked way better than tri Luna. It's worth a try I promise.

Hi, my melasma is almost gone! After trying a lot of things (lotions, lemon, apple cider, etc, ) finally I found in youtube a girl that say that baking soda was good for brown spots, well, I was thinking why not try??, I make a paste with a little water and a little baking soda in my hand, put it on my spots and leave it there all night (rinse in the morning), when is dry, it will fall off, you can make it a little more liquid if you like, in just 2 days I notice a difference! I have been doing this for almost 3 weeks and is almost gone, even my husband told me he can hardly see it! I have olive skin, and my spot was really dark... Hope it works for you!

Hello, I also have melasma and have tried many different treatments over the years, including the msm and gse combination. I did not have much luck with it but I still encourage you to try it because many others have. My melasma is related to hormonal imbalances as well, I started to enter menopause at the age of 38. I just turned 47 and the problem has lessened over the last few years but is not completely eliminated. I also use tretinon and find that it is better for wrinkle prevention than melasma - not a bad perk :o) I would like to suggest lactic acid peels. I have been doing a 55% peel at home once a week for the last 2 months and have seen improvement. Its very mild it will not make your skin peel and is safe for home use. Another good option is mandelic acid, also great for hyperpigmentation, and very safe. I sometimes alternate them. Another factor is consider is cleaning up your diet by removing sugars and just do your best to eat "clean", no junk. You have a great attitude, which is half the battle, I wish you the best of luck!

A commercial cosmetic product helped erase maybe 50-60% of my melasma. The rest wasn't responding to the commercial product, so I tried MSM, which helped somewhat, but the rest wouldn't go away. GSE didn't seem to work much. Hydrogen Peroxide was starting to help, but then I read it is an oxidant, so forget the H2O2!

I have finally found something that works: A one part to one part solution of onion juice and ACV. I found the recipe on the internet: just put some onion in the blender (I used a garlic press) to get some juice going. Add an equal amount of ACV to the onion juice.

Every evening, I've been pouring about 1 - 2 teaspoons into a little dish and applied it to affected areas with a cotton swab repeatedly until the juice is used up. This takes 10 - 20 minutes. After several days, I used the vinegary onion pulp as a facial mask - left it on for about 20 minutes.

It's been maybe 4 weeks and most stubborn brown spots have faded really nicely. The onion juice apparently helps lift the darkened areas off - and it has vitamin C in it - which seems like an overall healthy thing to be putting on your skin. I bought my second onion a couple of days ago and am looking forward to even an even clearer complexion!

I've tried all the cures and then some. My melasma is on both sides of my neck and was horrible looking! I found some glycolic acid online and ordered that and it worked beautifully on my face but not on my neck. So I found some TCA acid online and ordered that and IT WORKED! One side of my neck is completely clear and the other side may need 1-2 more applications. DO YOUR HOMEWORK! CHOOSE WHAT IS RIGHT FOR YOU! BE CAREFUL AND FOLLOW ALL THE DIRECTIONS! Also, amazon. com has some really good info on these peels as well...

Just found out I have been suffering from a Hyperthyroid... Hmmmmm. I pieced together my Melasma time line with the other symptoms of a Hyperthyroid, zeroing in on a known cause of melasma - increased hormones known to cause and acelerate the condition - it matches the onset of my other Hyperthyroid symptoms. Ladies and gentlemen, just a consideration - this may also be you. Make sure you have a thorough check-up including blood work... melasma that does not go away may very well be associated to a hormone condition caused by a malfunctioning thyroid.

IF YOU WANT IT TO GO AWAY... APPLE CIDAR VINEGAR WORKS! I read a earlier post a while back about using ACV with a cotton ball, then a few weeks later, I read an article about natural skin care products found in your kitchen. It said if you cannot afford to get glycolic peels try ACV. I apply it directly to the spots with a Q-Tip twice a day, first thing in the morning and when I get home or before I go to bed. You will see the fastest results if you put it on before bed. My skin is aging so I do not put it on before bed every night. But always twice a day. I do not dilute it. I keep the bottle in my bathroom. I also exfolitate every couple days with lemon(natural bleaching power) and sugar. These two things alone, I can tell you, YOU WILL SEE A DIFFERENCE in 2 WEEKS!!!! It is nearly 3 months, and you can "hardly" see it!! :)

Ive had melasma which has covered nearly 40% of my face. It started about a 1 1/2 years ago. I got a little spot on my nose and around my upperlip. 6 months ago it started very quickly to spread. I went to several Dr even cleveland clinic and they gave me creams but nothing worked. They all told me the same thing. "Theres nothing you can do, it will probably get worse." I wasnt willing to believe that. I started reading natural cures and heard about apple cider vinegar and tried it. It got a little better. So I realized that there has to be a cure otherwise it wouldnt have helped at all. I had a spot on my fingernail which I believed was fungus. I also had granuloma Annular on my neck and when I put Apple cider vinegar on it it helped the nail and eliminated the granuloma completely. So then I realized they had to be connected to the melasma. I began my mission. I had been to several Dr. I knew that all 3 were related, they all told me I was crazy that there was no connection. I knew if I could find what cured my fingernail it would cure the melasma. Each dr perscribed something diffrent nothing worked. So I began doing more research on the internet and realized what I needed was Doxycylene and prednisone to cure it. Sure enough it worked 5 days later the bacteria in my nail is gone and so is the melasma. I think mine was caused from a bacteria in my body. Dont give up you just need to know where its coming from..... Good luck!!!!! Suzy

pigmentation disorder

Apricot Kernel Oil cured my blotchy skin! Use a few drops as your regular face moisturizer.1-2t imes/week for about 6 months worked for me :) I'm 22 and tan very well, but every summer when I would start showing colour the skin on my face would get terribly blotchy. Lots of people told me that it was just the pigment of my skin and there was nothing I could do. My sister who also would get blotchy tanned skin noticed that after using Apricot Kernel Oil as a moisterizer on her face no longer had the same trouble that year. I stared in January and I can gladly say its the end of August and this is the first summer my face has a wonderfully even tan! (I still use sunsrcreen everday of course)

Sunscreen is probably the last thing you should be using unless you have a natural one. The chemicals contained in most other sunscreens seem to cause skin cancer. It pays to be careful.... Nowadays I only use VCO. And if you use sunscreen you don't make Vitamin D.

This is in follow up to my post dated 7/21/10. Well I am happy to report that my melasma is gone. I also got rid of a little mole on my cheek. It only took 4 weeks to get rid of the melasma and only 1 week to get rid of the mole by using Apple Cider Vinegar on my face every evening before I went to bed. I still use the __ __ 24 cream during the day on my face as I am a big fan of this product. I also still take selenium, zinc and other vitamins that support thyroid function and hormonal imbalance since I believe this is why I ended up with melasma in the first place. My skin looks so nice now. Friends and relatives have noticed a huge difference and say I look younger and my skin looks radiant. I wish I would've know about the ACV 2 years ago when I went on my mission to get rid of this dreaded skin condition. I could've saved myself hundreds of dollars! The combination of the ACV daily wash and taking vitamins (healing from the inside out) that support healthy skin such as C and E are key. Best of luck to everyone!

Good Day Cara..Hyaluronic Acid should clear up your skin..I had bad skin on my face that I covered with a beard. After taking HA for 3 months my face skin is soft, supple and those dark spots are nearly gone..The brand I am taking is absorbed into the body easily. Take 3 pills daily that contains 100mg.

I care
Alfred

OK, it is a long time since my first post. That awful melasma is gone completely from my upper lip (thank God) and the spot on my nose between my brow is gone, the marks over my brows are gone. I had a big splotch in the middle of my forehead, from the brow all the way up to the middle of my forehead. It is shrunk down to just a small spot, light, a few millimeters. Do you know what? IT JUST WENT AWAY. I stopped taking MSM and doing anything with cilantro over a year ago. Nothing was working. The only thing I can think is that I have been taking TURMERIC the spice every day, about a half teaspoon or a quarter of a teaspoon, and I do eat plain yogurt with fresh ground flax seed (one to two ounces of the seed, ground fresh) every morning. I DID quit smoking and drinking alcohol almost 2 years ago.

But seriously, I think what happened was, I stopped caring. I stopped obsessing over it. I started loving myself more. I believed my body could just heal itself and that paying attention to it was only making it worse. Anyway, it was there for, oh, maybe 5 years? I tried everything, almost. Seriously I write this to give hope to other people that it can really just go away. I realized it was going away a few months ago, but wasn't sure what would happen when warmer weather came. But I know now. I have been in the sun plenty of times without sunscreen. Also with sunscreen. I mean like daily hour long hikes on sunny days. I don't fear it anymore. It's just gone. I assume the last little spot on my forehead, maybe half an inch by half an inch will be gone soon enough - it's way shrunken down from what it was before - it's literally vanishing. Anyway, it just started going away by itself as far as I can tell. My body is just healing itself. Please don't obsess over it, tell yourself daily you love yourself anyway, ignore it. I am pretty healthy, I eat well, but I'm no fanatic. I think the more we worry the worse it gets. I think when we let go, and believe it can heal but don't mind anymore... it will just go away.

Good luck! ES

MELASMA: From what I have read on this site it seems to me that melasma might be another name for pregnancy cap. This is what (in the "old" days) we called the brownish grey pigmentation that covered the faces of some pregnant women. I have seen the same thing on a niece of mine when she was going through fertility treatment and it is still in evidence some years after. What I do know is that Adelle Davis indicated this to indicate a deficiency in folic acid..perhaps this should be investigated.. Adelle also warned all those years ago about spina bifida and folic acid deficiency. Such a tragedy her information was neglected by the medical profession until now.

Yea!!!!, thank you, gracias, merci, Grapefruit seed 125mg capsules x 4 and msm 1000mg x 4 and Vit C 100m x 4 and liver clean herbal capsules x 4 and since i am a true believer in my chinese herbs, i drink one that they sell for pigmentation and put 300mg of chinese pearl powder in my morning green smoothie and today was my first day on the GSE,MSM,VITC,liver clean at about 3 hr intervals and tonite, MY MELASMA ON MY UPPER LIP is outrageously lighter...after i washed off my makeup tonite i started to cry i am so shocked and happy.....this is a huge miracle as I have suffered from this problem for about 3 or 4 years now. I did microdermabrasion, laser, obagi, electrolysis, every medication on the shelves of every store in manhattan and nothing absolutely nothing ever had this lightening effect. it's as if i sat out under the moon instead of the sun.

i also use the derma roller on my skin for about 2 weeks now and it had not had this effect.
after i use the roller i apply castor oil and do a acupressure type massage and then apply msm lotion and then dmso on my face.

i am a raw vegan foodie and drink black coffee in the morning to get angry enuf to practice law in nyc. i am also a big fan of cacao (chocolaholic) not milk chocolate-the real stuff.

i am a long distance runner, am 51 and look 35 and spend loads of time in the sun.

no matter what i did i could not get rid of the dark spots that first started on my lip because of the waxing and then all of the other procedures to get rid of the hairs on my lip which i believe started because of minoxidol and then menopause which started at 49.

my hair started thinning at about 37 and now i have a full head of very long hair but it found its way to my eyebrows (which i like) and my lip which i do not like.

so i am now relegated to using that teeny tiny razor, uggh, very embarassing to admit, and thus the stain....have not used the minoxidol for about two days, since i learned that rubbing my nail beds together for 5 mins a day, stopped the hair loss when i use the flat iron.

whew, i know that is a lot of info but i am so happy i cannot stop writing.

Thank you for existing Earth Clinic. Thanx community of very beautiful givers on this site. If anybody needs anything from me reach me at [email protected].

BTW, i am olive skinned but with the yellow undertone, latina, brown hair and so very humbled and happy. i can't wait to go out, i had been staying home because of shame and thought everyone was looking at my lip.
lovlov,
reina

hydrogen peroxide for melasma

A dermatologist diagnosed me with melasma and prescribed a cream to use for a month and he said it would only partially help. And that after a month of the cream I would need a chemical peel to lighten the spots. Well of course I did my own research. I found this site and tried the hydrogen peroxide. I just dabbed a cotton ball with hydrogen peroxide on my spots. In 3 days they are 90% lighter. A day or two more I can tell they will be gone completly. Thank you for this site. It has saved me time, money, and prevented possible pain.

Hi Shirley,

If u still check this site, can u tell me how is ur Melasma now?

I tried the onion juice (I did not have the H2O2) with lemon juice just yesterday night and for some of my melasma has worked. It has become lighter in one shot unbelievable. . . Anyways I have come to a conclusion that all the melasma are not the same, that is why it is so difficult to treat. . . . Or at leat they don't have the same origin. Some come from yeast infections and other from liver intoxication. . . Or a mix of both together. It is necessary a deep knowledge on how it developed the very first time. I am working from the inside because it is the very best way to get rid of melasma I believe. . .

Hello ladies!
I am glad to give you another update! yes my melasma has gotten better, in fact its so faded that even I have a hard time seeing where the out lines of the melasma are!! I was taking 1000mg of grapeseed extract. I buy it at my local health food store (you wont find that dose at the drug stores). It is in capsules and found in a white bottle with purple and black writing. Each capsule is 500mg and I take 2 pills at the same time once a day.
I have just recently stopped taking grapeseed extract only because my skin is so much better. I have been off of the grapeseed for about 3 weeks now. It has not gotten worse, although where I am the sun isnt out too much right now it is raining alot and if not raining then its cloudy. I will have to wait untill spring and summer to see if it comes back. I was also told, that if you start taking grapeseed extract a month before all the nice weather starts it could prevent the melasma from comming back. I will have to test that in a few months, but right now I feel great about the way my skin looks. One of the other benifits to taking the grapeseed extract as well as aloe vera juice I have noticed my acne hasnt been as bad. Although it did get a little worse before it got better (the acne) I think it may have something to do with all the cleansing of the body that both grapeseed and aloe do (so Ive heard)..

I will keep you posted
Leah

These postings have been so helpful. I have had melasma for years now and only just learned what it is. I just assumed it was sun damage and that there was nothing I could do about it. It is most noticeable on my upper lip but I also have it above my nose and below my eyes. When I read this information I immediately started on MSM and grapefruit seed extract. I tried to do a before picture but couldn't capture it well so in the first week when I noticed a small clear patch on each side of my upper lip I thought maybe it was my imagination. Now I am 2 1/2 weeks into the process and I have much larger clear patches so I know it is not my imagination. It is by no means gone but it is definitely going away. I was going to wait to post but realized any progress is progress and if my adding that it is working for me could help someone else then that would be a good thing. I take 1000mg of MSM and 250 mg grapefruit seed extract (in pill form) 3 or 4 times a day. So basically with every meal and if I remember I take an extra dose before bedtime. I will check back in. Thank you to everyone who has posted and good luck to everyone just beginning to try!

A few months ago an esthetician at a skin care office recommended the obagi system to me a couple months ago for age spots on my cheeks. The program had retin-a, 4% hydroquinone and alpha hydoxhy acids. I didn't have any problems until I applied the hydroquinone. Immediately the lymph nodes in my neck became inflammed. I thought it was a fluke, waited a few days doing just the retin-a and alpha hydroxy, then applied it again. Same thing occured. I tried it ONE MORE TIME after a week's rest. Not a fluke at all, clearly a toxic substance. I then went online, which is what I should have done before shelling out almost $200 for this skincare line and read up on the hydroquinone. Happens to be banned in Europe, Australia and Japan because, quite simply, it's carcinogenic! Tied to leukemia in rat studies. The FDA wanted to ban hydroquinone a few years ago but came under sooo much pressure from dermatologists that so far, nothing. Apparently these skin "specialists" make an enormous amount of $ from selling it in packages like the obagi system. So the short of this story is, please be careful (not stupid like me) and research any products before you are talked into them by your doctor. That said, I am trying the grapefruit seed extract now!

I found the biggest improvement with Mandelic/Malic acid. I first used Nucelle's SPA System and saw big benefits, but because the price, I switched to Mama Lotion.

Still, I didn't get rid of the melasma completely. I was having other problems too, such as acne, stomach problems, numbness and migraines, etc. so I saw a nutritionist who put me on a food plan to cleanse my system. It was only $120 to see the nutritionist and I've been on this plan for a couple of months. I notice HUGE improvements overall. I feel wonderful! She suggested fasting, but I haven't done it yet.

I pretty much cut everything out of my diet (wheat, dairy, sugar), I have great recipes to follow which contain mostly fruits, vegetables, brown rice or brown rice pasta and raw nuts (some lean meats). I try to buy mostly organic when I can afford it. I have my fruit in my morning smoothie and I add Nature's Plus Source of Life daily and KYO green. At night I take flaxseed oil, milk thistle and probiotics.

I think you not only have to treat the skin on the outside, but on the inside too! I wish I could share my food plan with all of you!!!

Good luck!

It was great to hear how your new diet has helped you, I always new that the proper foods are the foundation for overall well being. However you did not mention if the diet made a difference in your melasma is it gone ? has it been reduced? I am a melasma sufferer myself and would do anything to get rid of this ghastly condition.