The Ultimate Guide On How To Remove Dark Spots And Treat Hyperpigmentation

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Even with a religious, researched, and effective skincare routine, some skin concerns, such as dark spots or hyperpigmentation are just hard to escape. There are various factors that stem or accelerate their cause, and the main ones are cumulative exposure to sunlight, post-inflammatory hyper-pigmentation, old break-outs, and melasma – a hormone that is mostly triggered in pregnant women. The internet could be a pretty confusing place to navigate when it comes to treating a very specific skin concern, and this one will have you recommending one extreme, like freezing to the other like Dermabrasion, both of which could be easily skipped. So, we are bringing you a very practical and honest guide on how to treat dark spots, with all its nuances and actions of treatment that promise results.

Why Do Dark Spots Occur?

Any breakouts, injuries, or inflammation can cause dark spots and stimulate the melanocytes in the skin. In turn, they produce more of the pigment melanin which leads to the rearrangement of melanosomes, resulting in dark spots and pigmentation.

They are also very time-sensitive and require to be treated actively as soon as they occur. 

Preventive Measures

More than 80% of dark spots occur due to untreated pimples and acne. So, a simple way to prevent dark spots is to treat your acne and pimples effectively. You can use pimple patches, or cleansers and exfoliators that can help you with acne, and just keep an overall check on your health that avoids an inflammation or hormonal imbalance. 

Prevention of dark spots includes treating acne as soon as possible, but also not scratching, touching, or putting your hand on it to treat it, is also a big no-no. It will definitely leave a mark, and would almost guarantee a dark spot on your face.

Another very important thing that needs to be care of, especially concerning dark spots, is the religious usage of sunscreen. It is anyway a very important step, but all the more if you get acne often, and seldom forget to use it.  

Beware of using harsh peels on your skin, be it homemade recipes or store-bought, because they often leave the skin dry and itchy, and always do a patch test to avoid any sort of irritation.

Avoid using physical scrubs if you have acne-prone skin, as they might cause minor tears, and further increase the chance of ance leaving dark spots behind, also avoid tanning to protect the base line of your skin.

Ingredients To Look Out For

Dark spots can definitely be treated with a good amount of time, and can slowly fade and completely vanish too. Here are some ingredients to look out for, when choosing products to treat dark spots.

1. If you are dealing with active acne and some dark spots, then choose azelaic acid-based creams, and pack everything in with an adapelene (retinol) cream at night. It will help you with your active acne, plus will also treat your dark spots.

2. If you are just targeting dark spots, you should use products that have kojic acid, arbutin, niacinamide, glycolic acid, vitamin C, and even retinol. 

3. For folks with dry skin, you should heavily depend on niacinamide, as it will increase the production of ceramides in the skin, and will treat dark spots, while retaining moisture.

4. People with sensitive skin should refrain from using products with too many actives, as it can further irritate the skin, and use plain glycolic acid instead of all the chemicals.

5. You can also check out the curation of moisturisers that you can very easily adapt into your everyday skin regime, and treat hyperpigmentation effectively.

Clinical Treatments

The above ways will help you treat dark spots and pigmentation with time, but if you want to speed up the process of recovery, and treatment, there are many dermatological approved procedures available in the market, but make sure that you thoroughly consult a Dermat before going forward with any of these.

1. Chemical Peels are the most popular methods to treat dark spots and hyperpigmentation, and you can opt from a variety. There are glycolic acid-based peel, ferulic acid-based peel, azelaic acid-based peel, and lactic acid-based peel that you can consider, based on your dermat examination.

2. Laser treatment is also another very effective method that fades the dark spots in an accelerated amount of time. Q switched Ndyag Laser is very effective in breaking down the fragmentation of dark spots. 

Our Recommendations

All of these treatments, before you choose to go for them, should be recommended and vetted by a dermatologist who has studied your skin and has context of your skin concerns. While we cannot do that, here are the best products to treat dark spots topically, that won't cause long-term harm to your skin.

Aziderm 10% Gel 15gm

Aziderm 10% Gel 15gm

231
SkinCeuticals Discoloration Defense Serum 30ml

SkinCeuticals Discoloration Defense Serum 30ml

13975
The Derma Co 2% Kojic Acid Face Serum

The Derma Co 2% Kojic Acid Face Serum

499
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Minimalist 2% Alpha Arbutin Face Serum

Minimalist 2% Alpha Arbutin Face Serum

522
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Minimalist 10% Niacinamide Face Serum

Minimalist 10% Niacinamide Face Serum

599
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Minimalist 10% Vitamin C Serum

Minimalist 10% Vitamin C Serum

699
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Plum 15% Vitamin C Glow Face Serum

Plum 15% Vitamin C Glow Face Serum

790
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The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution

The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution

1250
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Minimalist 0.3% Retinol Face Serum

Minimalist 0.3% Retinol Face Serum

599
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Pro-Tip

Check our comprehensive curation of sunscreens, along with the benefits of chemical and physical sunscreens.

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A literature post-graduate, with over a year of experience in all things content, and loves writing about fashion, pop-culture, and academia.