Although it does not affect your health, melasma on your hands is unsightly. To overcome and prevent this condition, you can use some suitable skin care products…
1. What are the symptoms of melasma on the hands?
Melasma is a condition in which dark patches appear due to an increase in melanin pigment. Melasma on the hands can be small, dark spots that appear scattered, or can also be clustered together, concentrated in a certain area of the skin.
Increased pigmentation on the hands will mainly concentrate on the skin on the back of the hand. This condition often appears more in women than men, especially during the aging process.
There are many causes of melasma on the hands, of which the following 4 groups are common:
– Effects of sunlight (UV rays): UV rays in sunlight are the main factor that increases the production of abnormal melanin. When the skin is exposed to a lot of sunlight, especially for a long time, melanin will be produced more to protect the skin from damage. This leads to the formation of brown spots or melasma on the skin.
Hand pigmentation can be small, dark spots that appear scattered, or can be clustered together, concentrated in a certain area of skin.
For the skin of the back of the hand and wrist, most people often forget to use sunscreen or other sun protection measures. Meanwhile, this is the skin area that is most often exposed to sunlight, causing melasma to appear more than melasma in other skin areas.
– Hormonal changes: Hormonal disorders cause the amount of melanin pigment in the body to increase rapidly, causing melasma. This is the reason why melasma is common in pregnant women, premenopausal women or women using birth control pills.
– Too much exposure to detergents: In some cases, the nature of daily work requires frequent contact with chemicals, even detergents. Over time, strong chemicals will make the skin thinner, weaker, and more vulnerable. At this time, melasma and freckles can appear quickly.
In addition, genetic factors are also a cause of melasma on the hands and other dark areas. Unhealthy and unscientific diet and lifestyle, frequent stress, prolonged pressure or excessive use of stimulants can also easily cause melanin levels to increase dramatically.
Using a body lotion containing retinol helps improve the condition of dark spots on your hands.
2. How to treat and prevent melasma on hands
To improve melasma on hands, you can use some skin care products such as:
– Exfoliating with AHA: Exfoliating the whole body with AHA helps reduce the condition of keratinization, remove dead cells on the skin surface, stimulate collagen production to help smooth and brighten the skin.
– Hand cream or body lotion containing retinol: Retinol is an ideal ingredient for skin that is experiencing hyperpigmentation, wrinkles caused by age and the environment. Prioritize products that have the ability to gently nourish the body, do not cause skin congestion, stickiness, and absorb quickly after application.
– Niacinamide: Niacinamide helps strengthen the skin’s protective barrier by promoting cell turnover in the epidermis. This helps the skin fight against harmful environmental factors such as UV rays, pollution, and improves skin discoloration problems such as hyperpigmentation (melasma, age spots, freckles), red rash, acne scars, etc.
– Sunscreen: Protecting the skin with sunscreen every day plays a very important role in limiting the effects of sunlight. Especially for the skin of the hands, which are often not covered much by clothing, it is necessary to apply sunscreen fully before going out and reapply when necessary.
Be careful with cosmetic products of unknown origin. Using cosmetics of unknown origin and of poor quality can lead to unpredictable consequences for the skin such as irritation, acne, dark spots, etc. Therefore, before using any product, you should find out the information and origin of that product.