Procedures for Dark Elbows and Knees?

The skin over the elbows and knees are particularly elastic and resilient. You will notice that the pigmentation is more apparent when your joints are extended and the skin overlying the joints is contracted and redundant. The pigmentation is a reflection of the type of skin around the joints and the fact that there is constant friction between these thickened areas and the environment. You are correct that the treatments you mentioned are temporary. In other words, there is no cure to... more

There are no permanent treatments for dark elbows and knees and some of the darkness comes from the skin redundancy that has to be there to allow your elbows and knees to bend (it's natural!) For people with especially dark areas where the rest of their skin is lighter some peels (VIpeel) can be used but those types of products should be used with caution in patients with darker skin. I hope this helps! Steven Williams, MD

Hi- in my practice, we have had great success treating darkly pigmented areas of the face and body with the ViPeel, a chemical peel formula with a combination of ingredients that work synergistically to achieve the improvement you desire. Occasionally more than one treatment is required, but recovery is easy and the treatments are very effective. You can read more at the ViPeel here