today's video is about hyperpigmentation
and more specifically melasma so this is
actually a part two from a video I did
almost two years ago talking about the
best treatments for hyperpigmentation so
today is a part two and I'm going to
share what's been working the best for
me over these last two years okay so the
first video I did on hyperpigmentation
was kind of a generalized like
information video about what treatments
are available what works the best then I
was kind of sharing what I liked and you
know natural remedies different remedies
so this video is actually on what I've
been using and what has worked the best
for me over I'd say actually the last
three years this is the best my skin has
looked in terms of like evenness and
skintone really what changed the game
for me was I saw this amazing doctor in
LA her name is dr. pearl Grimes she is
just a full specialist in melasma and
hyperpigmentation this is what she does
even before this video I was just like
brushing up on some studies and some
data and I even found a study that she
did which I didn't even know about but
it makes sense because she's really at
the forefront of this and she's honestly
been really amazing so first quickly for
anyone who maybe didn't see the part 1
video or doesn't know melasma is a form
of hyperpigmentation and basically it's
characterized by almost like light to
light to dark brown patches most
commonly it's on the cheeks it can be on
the forehead in the upper lip mine were
really like right here before I got
these kind of really significant patches
I noticed just darkening like when I
would get an acne breakout even like in
college it would take literally a month
or two for that spot to fade and I tried
all these different things different
topicals but anyway that's what melasma
is it's a type of hyper pigmentation
it's basically a genetic predisposition
so a lot of people do have the gene for
that's what they found but it can also
be worsened by UV damage so sunlight and
it can be worsened by hormonal
irregularities so estrogen can be a
factor that can make it worse high-risk
populations are basically anyone with
darker skin olive skin tones you are
more likely to get it it's funny because
in the past I would wear a sunscreen but
not as
literally as I do now so there's so many
little things I've been doing now too
like I wish I did before that helped so
when it comes to treating
hyperpigmentation or melasma the
absolute standard of care is topical
lightening agents which I'll go over and
UV protection so you guys have
definitely heard we talked about
sunscreen a lot on my channel that's one
of the most important things we've got
that when it comes to topical agents
using a combination has been shown to be
the most effective so different things
that are targeting the same issue but
with different mechanisms of action so
mechanism of action is a term used in
pharmacy school a lot basically how does
the drug work so you want different
creams that are working in different
ways to give you the same result so this
has been my regimen it's actually been
alternating a little bit I've probably
been seeing dr. Grimes for the last five
or six months and when I'm always in LA
if I'm not traveling I'll literally go
in every two weeks and we'll take
pictures she's got professional camera
which I'm hoping I can pop up in this
video I'm gonna have to see if I can get
them in time when I edit this but um
she's got this professional camera and
we can kind of see my progress every two
weeks and if it's not working well then
we'll adjust the medication one more
thing I want to know is that I really
wanted to just kind of go all-in with a
laser or appeal because in the past
those would work so well for me but then
I'd noticed that it'll come back within
like two months three months sometimes a
little bit longer but every time I did a
laser appeal it would come back and she
was very adamant on me not doing a laser
appeal and going very slow which to be
honest in medicine it's kind of a common
strategy I would say is to start low and
go slow that's also another phrase we
would use learning in school you want to
treat it slowly because with
hyperpigmentation or melasma if you go
too aggressive and your skin peels or
gets irritated that post inflammatory
hyperpigmentation they call it can
actually make you worse so if your skin
gets too irritated you might just start
back three steps behind where you were
so she was pretty adamant on no lasers
so you know I might give you a laser but
not until you're really at a good
baseline and so right now just using
topical and I had to be patient but it's
been working so
here's what I've been doing first I was
using hydroquinone morning and night
right now I'm just using it at night
layered with other products so I know
hydroquinone has a lot of controversy
behind it it's banned in some countries
it's not banned in the US I definitely
won't be on this forever if I had a
choice I would love to not be on it
there are some natural alternatives
late-era is one that even pregnant women
can you so that's something that I can't
wait to go on the data that's out there
really doesn't show the strength that
this is being used at you know just
topical also like a lot of the side
effects that were showed in some of the
studies showed people who would use it
and then go out in the Sun without sun
protection so you really have to look at
a study and see what it's showing you
can't just say someone use hydroquinone
and it was a carcinogen you have to be
like well how much were they using how
often were they using it how long were
they in the Sun without protection so
there's different factors that go into
it so I'm gonna be on this for a pretty
short period of time I think I'm
actually going to be getting off of it
pretty soon if I were to start with
light Terra it would have taken maybe 2
to 3 times the amount of time to even
get me at this baseline which it's
probably hard in this video to see but I
do still have it so this was kind of
like the quicker but not too aggressive
approach whereas afterwards I can you
know get on to something else that's
maintenance so hydroquinone I'm using
every night and then every night i layer
it was something else for the first
month or two I was using it morning and
night and in the morning it was just
this now it's every night so that's kind
of my base before I layer the product
with anything else I give myself like
it's usually like 30 minutes if I'm like
just getting to bed and it's like late
and I don't have enough time like give
myself like 10 minutes but I kind of got
in the habit of washing my face like
right after dinner maybe 2 hours before
bed so I could put on the hydroquinone
let it sit for a little while and then
layer it on another product which is
kind of just a good habit to get into a
skincare products anyway because the
longer you let one sit before you apply
the other the more effective they will
both be so this is the retinol I'm using
2 nights a week this is the glycolic I'm
using the other 2 nights a week really
like one ends up being three nights a
week one of the being 2 I have it on a
schedule one night a week I'm doing
this kind of this is her version of
appeal pad so a pretty popular appeal
pad right now is the dr. Dennis Rose
peel pads this is similar she actually
used to have this an appeal pad but now
she gave it to me like this this is a
combination of glycolic salicylic and
lactic so this is a bit stronger and
we're only using this one day a week so
one night a week I'll use this first and
then I will layer it with the
hydroquinone every other night of the
week I'm putting this on first and
layering it with everything else so cut
that one then we've got this one which
is the bleached 5.5 cream this is kind
of like a hydroquinone but a higher
strength I'm only using this once every
10 days I actually started originally I
was using it once every seven days on
the nights that I use this I obviously
don't layer it with this one because of
the same exact product it's just this
one's stronger and this one I only spot
true so I'm only putting it on these
patches that I've got like one down here
we move me from once every seven days to
once every 10 days because she doesn't
want my skin to become dependent on it
so I'm assuming next time I see her will
even taper this down a little bit more
so we're already on the decline with
hydroquinone which I'm happy bugs I
definitely don't want to be on it but I
just want to keep it real in this video
it is the only thing that's really
worked for me using it consistently so
lastly I've been using the sisty and
main cream I'm gonna pop this up on the
screen so you guys can see the spelling
this is a newer one on the market and
everyone is really excited about this
one because it's much safer than
hydroquinone and a lot of studies have
shown that it can be just as effective
she has me on this one in the mornings
so if you look if you look up this
medication a lot of times you'll see
that people will use it at night
sometimes for 15 minutes or longer for
whatever reason she has me on it in the
morning sets my regimen everyone's
different medicine is not always black
and white but I would basically put it
on for 15 minutes and then rinse it off
and then just do my normal skincare
we've now bumped me up to 30 minutes
she's probably seeing that I've been
able to tolerate it well there was one
point where my skin felt a little bit
like flushed and pink and if that
continued we were going to take me off
of it but as of right now it's been
totally tolerable I'm
actually excited to see if I can just be
on this one not the hydroquinone but
that's what I'm using right now in the
mornings I do want to quickly go over
what I just talked about and let you
know how they all work just see you guys
can have a little more of an
understanding of why people use these um
so let's just rewind a little bit
the hydroquinone is basically blocking
the production of melanin so melanin is
what gives us that light color to our
skin but if you have an overproduction
that's when you can get the dark patches
so that's what hydroquinone is doing
sisty Amin the one that I talked about
last actually does the same thing but in
a different way so that's also very
common in medicine like I said you've
got a lot of drugs that do the same
thing but kind of at a different angle
so with hydroquinone the byproduct of it
a lot of times people have set can be
unsafe whereas sissie amine is not
unsafe so it does it from different
angles and supposedly is going is
showing to be just as effective so the
verdict is out on that this one the
three different peels the lactic like
colic and salicylic peels in general are
just resurfacing so this is also a huge
standard of care for hyperpigmentation
in dark spots when you have resurfacing
you're just getting rid of like maybe
the top layer of your skin you're
letting new cells grow in it means it's
an anti-inflammatory effect you can have
more cell turnover so resurfacing in
general is great
when you get a peel in an office
oftentimes it's one of these peels but
just much stronger so that's when the
doctor will put it on your face
that's when you actually will peel I
have had no peeling from this because
I'm just using it one night a week and
it's been pretty mild for me the
glycolic that I'm using twice a week
this one has been really popular so
glycolic is in here but it's also just
this one individual this is the most
popular of all of the acids I would say
because the molecular weight is smaller
so it can penetrate the skin a little
more easily
it's it some people think it's more
effective either way it all depends on
the person how you tolerate it some
people really like lactic some people
like glycolic so that also probably is
why I've been going in every two weeks
to see how I'm tolerating everything and
how everything's working so for me I
really liked
I haven't had any reaction to any of
these all of these work better in
conjunction with each other so that's
called a synergistic effect like synergy
things work better together even you
know for the hydroquinone it works
better when it's often completely
combined with a corticosteroid or you
know different anti-inflammatory agents
so a lot of these work better together
this has been working really well for me
I hope this wasn't confusing honestly
ease as I was saying and I was like I
hope this isn't a big jumble of words
and it makes sense I genuinely have a
like no in my note to my iPhone I have
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Friday Saturday and I just have what I
have on there I have a look in my
calendar every 10 days to use the bleach
5.5 creams I remember so it's been
working for me overall like it's a
really annoying condition and also it
will never go away that's the
frustrating part if you have it it's
just something you have and you have to
maintain it so I'm really grateful for
the natural options that are available
so once I get to baseline I will be able
to maintain it on that and I'll feel
comfortable being on that like every day
whereas this is not something I'd want
to be on forever actually when I went to
see dr. Grimes the first time she didn't
know it's a pharmacist so I was like ask
asking all these questions and wanting
she was like okay slow down I was like
but you know I can't use hydroquinone
when I'm pregnant she's like okay one
step at a time
I won't have you want it for that long
so we don't need to worry about that
right now it's just gonna be a short
period of time and then we'll get you to
baseline so that's been my regimen again
it is a bit individualized the person
but I hope this helped you guys give you
some general info and I wanted to just
be honest and real on what's been
working for me a lot of people on
instagram have been asking why my
complexion looks so much better lately
and this is why so I hope you guys
enjoyed this video if you have any
questions on anything let me know please
like comment and subscribe and I'll see
you next time
you
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