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How Do I Know the Difference Between Sun Damage and Melasma?
asked 1 year ago by nydawl in NYC
Latest answer by Joseph Serota, MD
Question viewed 1,684 times
Tags: melasma, sun damage
I understand Melasma is untreatable (except for bleaching creams) but sun damage can be removed by fraxel lasers and/or photo facials. Both are large brown spots.
4 answers to How Do I Know the Difference Between Sun Damage and Melasma?
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Differences Between Sun Damage and Melasma
Hi NYDawl. There are some differences between Melasma and sun damage that you may be able to spot yourself, while others will only be seen by your physician.
First, sun damage is usually very random when it comes to location on the face. There is tyipcically no symmetry or order in regard to location. The spots are different sizes and locations and the spots tend to be smaller than the patches of pigment associated with Melasma.
Melasma on the other hand is...
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Difference between sun damage and melasma.
A lot of my patients have a difficult time seeing the difference between sun damage and melasma, so you are not alone! Sun damage has a smaller, more random pattern on the skin, and is generally more superficial, whereas melasma looks almost like a shadow and covers a larger area. When you actually see pictures (check some out online) you can tell the difference but it can be difficult without doing some research or having a professional diagnose you.
Sun damage can be...
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Melasma has a pattern. Sun damage is diffuse
Your dermatologist will know the difference, but there are distinct patterns to melasma, while sun damage is ill-defined and diffuse. You are correct: If you begin regular sun protection, a skin care program and procedures such as peels and lasers can give you permanent improvement. Melasma, on the other hand, is more of an inherited, medical problem that oftern recurs even after successful treatment.
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Melasma VS Sun Damage
As our skin is bombarded by the sun's rays, including ultraviolet A and B, damage takes place and manifests itself in many ways. We refer to that grab bag of changes as sun damage (among them flaky, wrinkly skin with loss of elasticity and increase incidence of blotchiness and of a variety of benign, precancerous and cancerous lesions).
On the other hand, melasma refers to the facial hyperpigmentation of the cheeks which is seen with hormonal changes (birth control pills,...
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