Melasma/Hyperpigmentation/Brown Spots

I've used retinol 1% the last year and a half and it's helped a bit. Plus using sunscreen all year around has prevented them re-darken.
Started using Retin A only 2 weeks ago so can't say on that yet sorry.

No Retin A is a lot stronger.
Most products containing retinol have it in very low, almost insignificant quantities. 1-2.5% are considered as high.
The average off the counter product has far less.
Retin A is tretinoin (generic term) and comes in 3 different strengths; 0.025. 0.05 and 0.1.

Because I was acclimatised to 1% retinol already, I have started tretinoin at 0.05%

Hope it works for you!

I have one small tip....I used it for a few years as a teenager for acne and learned a hard lesson one summer. USE SUNSCREEN while on it. (Of course I was told that by my doctor but I was a teenager so I knew everything and ignored him.)

Good luck!

hensue11 wrote: »

Has anyone used Retin A for this? did it help in anyway?

I AM HERE TO HELP YOU. You need to treat hyper pigmentation holistically.

I had melasma- hyper pigmentation during and up to two years after pregnancy. I went to a natropathic doctor who put me on an extensive vitamin regime. Vitamin c, b complex, omega 3, biotin, cod liver, evening primrose, iron (I was deficient in iron) apple cider vinegar once before every meal, sunscreen. I started to eat healthy too mostly green veggies and meat, the carbs I had were sweet potatoes whole grain or wheat bread quinoa brown rice. I started having a green kale spinach smoothie a day. I started taking super food powder suppliments and protien shakes. I exfoliated often and I lost 30 pounds. Now my melasma is 95 percent gone and I had it bad. I had dark skin patched on my face neck chest breast stomach, arms, butt, I was like ten different shades of black now I'm back to my original color. Now my skin is glowing, i dont even need make up anymore and my stretch marks have faded. Hyperpigmentation is caused by hormones and only treating it internally and holistically will have lasting affects. I have tried retinal a, masks, even lightening creams and no result was successful until I saw my naturopathic doctor, ate right and lost the weight. I started this in July and now it's Jan so it will take a couple of months to get your skin back to normal but it's well worth it. Now my goal is to be healthy over just looking skinny.

For pigmentation there is a product called Cosmelan 1 if you want it gone quick. It is very pricey but purported to be safe and extremely effective. It can be purchased off a reputable ebay seller.

For liver spots on hands and and legs look into 12-18% TCA, again can be purchased online.

I would use Retin A at a starter level of 0.25% and work towards over 1.0% over a 12-18 months - go very slow on this one and use for ongoing anti aging. Lots of great you tubes available on these products. Do heaps of research.

Again a great diet, exercise and sleep work amazingly well also.