How to Treat Body Hyperpigmentation| Dermatologist Tips

hi guys welcome or welcome back to the channel for anyone new hello my name is alexis i'm a board-certified dermatologist and in today's video we are going to talk about how to treat hyperpigmentation on the body hyperpigmentation on the body can really be very difficult to treat and can also cause a lot of negative impact on you emotionally whether it's dark marks following acne or post inflammatory hyperpigmentation following a bug bite or even melasma yes you can get melasma on the body can truly negatively affect how you feel about yourself and can affect your self-esteem so in this video i'm going to show you not only how you can treat body hyperpigmentation but also how you can prevent it if that sounds good please give this video a thumbs up make sure you subscribe to the channel without further ado let's jump into the video so hyperpigmentation is an accumulation of extra color also known as pigment in one specific area that results from too much melanin being produced in one particular area making that spot darker than the surrounding skin it's perfectly normal to have skin that is not all one color from head to toe hyperpigmentation that truly bothers people tends to be what follows dark marks or some type of injury or insult to the skin and it can result from hormonal changes like melasma but my friends i want to make it really clear that hyperpigmentation is extremely normal it is common and it is something that anyone with more melanin-rich skin has experienced or will soon experience because it's just the way that our skin reacts to any type of injury or inflammation now everyone of every shade is prone to hyperpigmentation but the more melanin your body is naturally producing the more likely you are to actually end up with a dark mark or hyperpigmentation and the dark marks last way longer than the initial cause whether it is acne or like a bug bite you're going to have that dark mark for months and sometimes even years so that's why we're going to go through this guide let's figure out what you can do to improve and actually prevent some of those drug marks as a board-certified dermatologist who specializes in skin of color hyperpigmentation is the number one concern of my patients here in the clinic so i understand how much this can greatly affect your quality of life that's why i wanted to provide a very simple easy to follow guide that you can use to both treat and prevent your hyperpigmentation this is going to be something that you can use at home there is some hyperpigmentation that truly does need to be managed with medical care seeing your board certified dermatologist in general there are three main factors that cause your melanocytes or your pigment producing cells to get wrapped up and produce hyperpigmentation with the number one cause being inflammation now inflammation can result from any type of injury or insult to the skin this could be acne so butt acne bag acne shoulder acne chest acne etc or it could be like from a bug bite so what we call that in medicine is an arthropod assault but a lot of people who get mosquito bites especially on the lower legs end up with hyperpigmentation or this can even be following something like a surgery so scars can heal with hyperpigmentation even some of the super common daily things that we do in our life can cause a type of inflammation from constant friction like walking if your thighs rub when you walk together or if you're cleaning and you're kneeling or if you are chasing after babies or exercising on the floor doing a lot of kneeling that's a type of friction that can lead to inflammation and therefore hyperpigmentation on the skin now one of the most common medical conditions that can lead to hyperpigmentation and the one that yours truly suffers from is eczema this type of inflammation can certainly heal with hyperpigmentation and it's a pain because it's like the rash that itches and it's all driven by inflammation and anytime you rub and that kind of friction from just scratching or just the inflammation from the condition alone can lead to hyperpigmentation on the skin so i'm going to show you guys what i have personally used to help heal any body hyperpigmentation i've had from my own journey with eczema factory number two hormonal changes there are certain times of life where we are more prone to developing hyperpigmentation so pregnancy if you are on birth control if you are going through the change of life or a menopause these are huge hormonal shifts and it makes us more approach developing certain types of hyperpigmentation but especially melasma yes my friends you can get melasma on the body especially those sun exposed areas like a chest and the forearms other hormonal changes can cause darkening of the skin like insulin resistance or diabetes you can get something called acanthosis niagara cans which is this velvety thick darkening that happens on the back of the neck but any area that really has folds so you can get it on the underarms or the growing area even underneath the breast and you can even get it from different thyroid conditions i would highly advise talking to your personal doctor if you have hyperpigmentation in any of these hot spot areas just to make sure that blood work is not needed and at least have a conversation about the hyperpigmentation to make sure that it's not medically induced and of course a factor number three comes from uv radiation or the sun make sure that you are wearing your sunscreen to decrease the risk of the uv rays revving up your melanocytes and causing them to produce more pigment so let's talk about what you can use at home to improve your body hyperpigmentation now my friends you are most likely going to need different products than what you're using on your face keep in mind that a lot of the products that you use for your face are not going to work for your body your body has a thicker skin the cells turn over much slower so you usually are going to need higher percentage of actives at a lower ph so we need a good strategy with more aggressive products in order for the actives to actually absorb and make any kind of change to the hyperpigmentation so let's come up with a strategic plan to use these more aggressive products without developing any irritation on your skin so with that in mind to stop the overproduction of melanin or pigment we're going to focus on three different types of products so pigment inhibitors exfoliators and cell rejuvenators so the best ingredient that can help with cell regulation and function speeding up cell turnover helping to build and boost collagen and even out your skin tone is of course retinol these are two of my favorites this is the paula's choice skin soothing retinol body treatment and this is the burst of firm ground retinol body lotion i have been loving this one by burst because it is such a great price point for the amount of retinol that you're getting this was my ride or die for a while but now burst is out with a cheaper version and so i really like bursts already and i've been using the first one these are both amazing retinol body choices you're definitely getting more bang for your buck with the verse it's six fluid ounces or 177 milliliters for what i believe is half the price of the one from paula's choice i'll throw the prices on the screen and with the verse it's an encapsulated retinol which i love meaning it's really stable until it gets to where it needs to go and do what it needs to do in the body without causing the excess irritation that can happen because of the fact that it's encapsulated so i love these these are both are fragrance free for anyone needing to avoid fragrance very good products next step in your skin cycling process you're really going to want to focus on products that can help to exfoliate that thicker skin and you're going to need to exfoliate a little more frequently on the body than what you're doing on the face now depending on the part of the body that you're treating with the hyperpigmentation should really dictate the type of exfoliant you use i really love to use phas on those gentle sensitive intimate areas only because the skin is very thin there and you don't want it irritated because irritation lends to inflammation which can lead to hyperpigmentation so that's a no go so in the thin sensitive gentle areas i like this one by we the people the big reveal this is their pha this is a fantastic brand and i really like everything that this company stands for their actives are on point now for the rest of the body that isn't quite as sensitive as the skin folds or the intimate areas you can really kick it up a notch with your actives i really like the skin fix resurface line they make this glycolic renewing scrub and they also make the aha bha enzyme exfoliating pads i love the aha bhas for exfoliating especially on the body they help to slap off those old dead skin cells that are holding on to melanin but they also hydrate the skin while boosting more collagen so your skin looks more youthful radiant and glowing and remember we are treating body skin which is thicker so you can use these a little bit more often than you would use a product like this on your face now the next ingredients that you're going to want to look for when you're building your skin cycle regimen are going to be of course pigment inhibitors one of my favorite products is the faded spray this is so easy to apply to your body it's full of amazing ingredients it's got kojic acid and tranexamic acid alpha arbutin niacinamide licorice root and glycolic all amazing active ingredients that can really help to fight hyperpigmentation from multiple different pathways it's such a fantastic and easy to apply product i love this you guys have heard me recommend faded ever since it came out because i'm just so impressed with the formula now for more sensitive areas you may want to go with a sespara you guys have also heard me recommend this 100 million times because i truly believe and stand by the products that's why you hear me continue to recommend them so sparrow would be really great if you are just treating a small intimate area on the body you guys know i stand for this on my face i love it i still use it to this day in my maintenance regimen but for the body it is extremely expensive and would be impractical for you to put this in a large area so if you have a small intimate area you're just treating area underneath your arms or down below in the bikini this may make sense but for a large body area going to be way too pricey i would go with the faded now fade it has on their website that you cannot use faded with retinol in the same day so of course you want to follow the rules of the people who actually formulate and make the products however sespara can definitely safely be used the same day as you're using your retinol so depending on what you want to do that's going to determine whether or not you can actually use your pigment inhibiting ingredients the same day that you are using your retinol but i'm going to show you guys a little bit later in the video exactly how to use the skin care regimen and the products in a way that makes the most sense for you now regardless of the day that you are on in this skincare regimen that we are building you need to finish it off with a moisturizer this is the part that i see people get wrong all day long your moisturizer is so important you need a moisturizer rich in the linoleic acids you need a fatty rich moisturizer the skin on our body is drier than the skin on our face because there's less oil or sebaceous glands so you definitely need to be moisturizing that skin and you need to choose the right moisturizers i have two favorites this one is almost empty this is my lipicore ap balm this is amazing and it's great if you do have eczema prone skin but it's also good if you don't it's rich in fatty acids it is super nourishing and keeps you beyond hydrated it says here 48 hours of hydration and i believe them but i never go more than 24 hours without hydrating so i haven't quite put it to the test myself i also always cap off my body moisturizer with an oil super rich in fatty acids or linoleic acids specifically is what you want to look for so you could just put a touch into your body moisturizer i'm not saying you have to slather yourself in oil head to toe but adding just a little bit to your moisturizer can make a huge difference and really filling in that hydration now if you're like a little lake who a fatty acid moisturizer what i have in an entire video dedicated to the best moisturizers for hyperpigmentation i will link it down below but this video goes into great detail as to why and what type of moisturizers you want to look for these are really great ones for the body specifically in that video we were talking about the face but at least it will let you know a little bit of the science and the knowledge behind why you want to actually make sure you nail your moisturizer if you are treating hyperpigmentation all right guys before i actually tell you how you want to be using this skincare regimen keep in mind that successful treatment of hyperpigmentation means that you've identified the actual cause or else you're just going to keep getting more hyperpigmentation for example if it's from acne make sure that you are successfully treating your acne while treating your hyperpigmentation one of the products that you can actually really do a great job of this is the clear and even toned body cleansing bar by urban skin rx this one has a salicylic acid it has sulfur and it has charcoal kojic acid and licorice root so things that are treating the acne calming down inflammation while improving the hyperpigmentation so make sure you're identifying what's going on so that you're not just treating the hyperpigmentation without treating the root cause if it's one of the medical conditions like eczema make sure you're taking your eczema medications as prescribed by your doctor or you're at least using really good and nourishing products that have that eczema seal of approval like this on there or if it is from the different lifestyle things that we talked about so if it is indeed from friction make sure that you're minimizing that friction if it's from bug bites make sure you wear protective clothing when you're in those more vulnerable states of getting bit by bugs if it's from a scar make sure you immediately treat the scar i will actually link below one of my favorite scar treatments actually i'm in the office let me go grab it all right this is one of my favorite scar treatment it is by aven it is their acyclophate gel a cigar cream this is amazing they also make one with an spf i use this all the time because i am always injuring myself and getting little scars or my children are injuring themselves and getting scars this has been a savior all right my friend so this is what a true skin cycling body hyperpigmentation regimen would look like you would first do rejuvenation so you're going to use your retinol products remember this helps speed up cell turnover it helps with hyperpigmentation and overall skin rejuvenation you would then exfoliate your skin on the next night these have glycolic and lactic acid in here which are great exfoliants but they're also humectants so they help to hydrate the skin while exfoliating the skin they also help to even out your skin tone because they're slapping off those dead skin cells that hold on to the pigment at the top the next night you would then actively treat your pigmentation so these are full of pigment inhibitors you got your kojic tranexamic alpha arbutin niacinamide licorice root and glycolic acid also in this product every single night you are capping it off with the right moisturizer so moisturizers are rich in linoleic acids and if you want a bonus go ahead and cap it off with an oil on top of your moisturizer or drop a little bit of the oil into your moisturizer to really seal everything in the oil also needs to be rich in a linoleic acid hemp seed grapeseed rosehip oil etc and then of course a sunscreen to any area that is openly exposed to sun or uv exposure but even better wear protective clothing over the area of the body that you're trying to actively treat patience is going to be key here my friend because dark marks on the body truly take longer to lift than dark marks on the face you're looking anywhere between four to six cell cycles each sales cycle is approximately 28 days this is if your pigmentation is epidermal meaning at the top layer of the skin now if you truly have a dermal pigmentation meaning that that pigment is trapped deeper into the skin you're unlikely to see a lot of changes from the over-the-counter options and you may need to get in to see your dermatologist there are a lot of options please don't give up hope in my clinic we often do a combination of different treatments so we'll do a custom compounding prescription cream sometimes we do things like chemical peels this is the vi body pill it's actually specific for the skin on the body stronger actives lower ph for that thicker skin we also do laser treatments we do micro infusion micro needling there's so many different things that you can actually do to target the pigment on the body it's sometimes worth that extra consultation with your dermatologist or your healthcare practitioner so you can see what your options are as you're trying to make the best decisions but if that is not accessible to you at least you have this great treatment plan that you can start at home really get the process moving i hope this video was helpful for you guys if so please give it a thumbs up make sure you subscribe to the channel you have to let me know what do you want to see next i only make the videos that you guys request this one was highly requested i hope i delivered guys until next time be well

Channel: Dr Alexis Stephens

Views: 492,462

Keywords: skincare routines black woman, skin care tips, hyperpigmentation black skin, hyperpigmentation black skin care, hyperpigmentation black skin body, hyperpigmentation black skin treatment, hyperpigmentation black skin products, how to get rid of hyperpigmentation on black skin body, best chemical peel for hyperpigmentation on black skin, how to treat hyperpigmentation on black skin, how to clear hyperpigmentation on black skin, how to get rid of hyperpigmentation on black skin

Id: kHICge42a2E

Length: 18min 11sec (1091 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 19 2021