Pico Laser for MELASMA: Is It Worth It?? 🕶

Hey Zesties, how’s it been? 🍋 You will seldom come across a brutally honest review on lasers by someone who literally makes a living off them, but this time I’m not going to gatekeep the facts about the medical treatment of melasma, so here we go…

🧐 First, what’s melasma? 🤔 It is a pigmentary skin condition that sort of just creeps up to quite a few of us typically in our 30s and 40s (onwards) 😓 It can affect any gender but females tend to have it more. It is associated with pregnancy 🤰 and sun exposure ☀️ There is a genetic element to melasma as well, so if you have it, chances are someone else in the family might have had it too!

The appearance of melasma is that of patchy 🩶grey-brown 🤎 pigmentation that tends to occur around the cheek areas. One thing that sets it apart is the lack of clearly defined borders unlike say a sun spot, freckle, or even an acne mark. Patchy is the keyword here - vague and patchy 😶‍🌫️

❓So then, should we go ahead and laser melasma? 🤓

As with 1001 things in life, the answer is sadly not a clear-cut YES or NO 🙂‍↕️ Let’s start by saying that a Pico laser treatment is truly adept at improving pigmentation ⚡️ Most of the time it WILL (when done in controlled doses) lighten melasma. I’ve had many satisfying cases myself; successfully lightening melasma till it’s almost imperceptible ✨ But the crux here is LIGHTEN ⚠️ Let’s just say bluntly that laser will NOT CURE melasma 🥲 It is a pesky condition you see, and it tends to like to creep back up after years, with accumulated sun exposure ☹️ (don’t forget the genetic component too)

Moreover, one thing I learnt early in my laser career is to 🙇🏻‍♂️ TREAT MELASMA WITH RESPECT 🙇🏻‍♂️ High power settings on the lasers are almost guaranteed to DARKEN 💢 melasma leaving the doctor and patient positively flummoxed if inexperienced 😳 The toning technique was developed to deal with melasma - easy does it - and a whole lot of patience ⏳ Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to do 6 sessions of lasers… who doesn’t want to get the problem solved in one session? Yet I’ll say, the devastation of seeing your pigments paradoxically DARKENING with STRONG laser settings on the very first session is 101% not worth it 🥲

In summary, Pico lasers are helpful in gradually lightening melasma ✨ and maintaining a relatively light and bright skin, but it doesn’t cure melasma. Many doctors know to treat this condition with respect, meaning that: as much as we hate to, we HAVE to take it slow to avoid worsening the condition with lasers 🆗

Other adjuncts are useful in treating melasma including topical whitening creams such as Triluma, or even whitening medications. Needle-RF helps too. But don’t you already have easy access to perhaps the cheapest and most effective solution to keep melasma at bay? You guessed it… ample SUN PROTECTION!! 😎

So, that’s melasma in a nutshell, and an explainer on the thought process behind planning an appropriate treatment. Is the Pico laser worth it? I leave that to your kind consideration and I’m in no way telling people to go and do it nor say you shouldn’t 😃

#beauty #picolaser #melasma #pigmentation #RealTalk