Besides wrinkles, nothing bothers most women as much as pigmentation spots, which, unlike pimples or freckles, do not always disappear on their own. Women who take the pill, are pregnant or in menopause are particularly affected but you can do something preventively against chloasma and age spots. “Beauty draws part of its magic from transience” – so says the writer Hermann Hesse. But does one have to see this transience all too clearly right away? It is not without reason that more and more dermatologists are offering cosmetic treatment to combat pigmentation disorders of all kinds. Age spots, for example, can be removed with a laser.
Connection between chloasma, sunbathing and hormones.
There are differences between chloasma and age spots. Chloasma (also called melasma) are brownish hyperpigmentations, i.e. particularly strong but benign pigmentations on the face, chest, abdomen and genital area. They occur during pregnancy or as a result of hormone preparations such as the pill and hormone therapies during menopause.
When exposed to sunlight, normal skin reacts with an even pigmentation. This is due to the work of melanocytes, cells that change color when exposed to sunlight to protect the body from damage.
However, if estrogen levels are elevated, many women experience an exaggerated defensive reaction: brown spots of varying sizes disfigure the skin, and sometimes this happens very quickly. One intense sunbath is enough and the skin has changed in such a way. It is said that the cells responsible for the formation of the pigment melanin are enlarged by the hormones, their distribution is influenced.
What to do about chloasma?
If you notice irregular skin tanning after taking a hormone preparation, ask your gynecologist if he can recommend a preparation that is more suitable.
For superficial pigmentation, the dermatologist may try to lighten the pigments with a bleaching substance or remove them with chemical peeling. But if the pigments are very deep, then often only covering with cosmetics will help.
Prevent chloasma
As a preventive measure, hormone preparations such as the pill should preferably be taken in the evening, because one to two hours after taking the pill, the hormone concentration is at its highest, and it breaks down again overnight.
In addition, one should use a sunscreen with a high sun protection factor and not stay too long in the sun.
Age spots: Cell damage due to many years of UV exposure.
Age spots (lentigo senilis or lentigo solaris), which are a few millimeters to centimeters in size, are accumulations of pigment in the epidermis. They are also benign, form in men as well as in women, and are a visible sign of many years of sun exposure. Therefore, they are preferably found on the face and hands. 90 percent of 60-year-old Germans are affected by them.
The age spots are accumulations of the pigment lipofuscin, an end product from the oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids of the cell walls. Over the years, free radicals play a major role here, those molecules that possess only a single electron and attack molecules with electron pairs in order to snatch an electron from them. If cells are weakened by too much sunlight, for example, the connection between the electrons breaks. The cells age, and the skin becomes leathery, wrinkled and blotchy, forming lipofuscin.
Prevent and treat age spots
As a preventive measure, you actually can’t start early enough to protect yourself from too much sun. Once the age spots are there, the dermatologist can remove the pigments specifically with the help of the laser or with a special applicator plus heat. The side effects are minor, a reddening of the skin can last for a few weeks.
In addition, there are bleaching creams available in pharmacies that contain chemical substances: Vitamin A acid derivatives, for example, really exfoliate the epidermis, which can be very irritating to the skin. Again, one should be very careful when sunbathing.
Affected persons should have the pigment changes examined by a dermatologist before deciding on cosmetic treatment of age spots and chloasma. In the case of liver spots (nevus cell nevi), namely, the pigmentations are located deep in the skin and can change malignantly with laser treatment.
