Melasma, sun damage and post-inflammatory marks look alike and are managed differently, but every plan for all three begins in the same place: sun protection, daily, including on cloudy days and indoors near windows.
This is the least popular sentence in dermatology and the most important one. Without it, a course of peels or laser will lighten pigmentation that returns within months.
Melasma in particular is a condition to be controlled rather than cured. It responds, it settles, and it can return with pregnancy, hormonal changes or a summer without protection. Knowing that in advance is the difference between a plan that works and one that feels like failure.
Associate Professor Dr. Lubna Rani Faysal
MBBS (Gold Medalist), FCPS (Dermatology), MHPE · 13 years in dermatology
