Do I need to apply hydroquinone before and after PicoSure treatment? (Photo)

Question

I have the age spot on my faces. I heard about picosure treatment. I went to see a doctor. She said I need to use their in-house hydroquinone cream before treatment, also use it the rest of my life after the treatment. Otherwise, the age spot will come back. I thought I do not need hydroquinone cream with picosure. Most of time hydroquinone is not useful for age spot and not comfortable. Attached is my face picture. Can a nice doctor give me some honest opinion？

Harold J. Kaplan, MD · Answer

Hi Bin.  It appears you have some sun or age spots, but it's difficult to tell if you also have Melasma.  If you have age spots, then a proper q-switched Picosure treatment or two should remove them permanently.  These spots are usually smaller, circular, brown and have easily defined borders.  
Melasma, on the other hand is usually diffuse patches of pigment on the cheeks that are larger than sun spots and very symmetrical from side to side.  Melasma is chronic and there is no cure.  We would also not recommend Picosure for Melasma as the condition can worsen.  We do use hydroquinone for Melasma.

Brian K. Machida, MD, FACS · Answer

In spite of the effectiveness of Picosure, use of hydroquinone between treatment intervals can be advised depending on the doctor's judgement.   In order to use it for the "rest of your life", it should always be done under a doctor's supervision.

David E. Berman, MD (retired) · Answer

your skin is not very dark and the Picosure laser does a good job of resurfacing with no downtime. you can see how you do without pre-treating with HQ and just see what happens over time. plan 3 treatments done each about a month apart.david berman md

Do I need to apply hydroquinone before and after PicoSure treatment? (Photo)

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Do I need to apply hydroquinone before and after PicoSure treatment? (Photo)

Answers (3)

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Recommended reading

Everything you need to know about PicoSure

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.