Is Picoway Resolve ok to use for melasma in olive skin? Is there any chance it could make the melasma worse?

Melasma is tricky and with sun or hormones can get worse.  Laser can improve it but when you are in the sun or take hormones etc could make it worse again.  You should be using laser and watch hormones and topical creams with hydroquinone or kojic acid. As well, lots and lots of sunscreen every day every morning before you leave the house.  Be careful any time you are outside or in the sun

Melasma is caused be a combination of hormones and sunshine almost exclusively in women.  To be successful in controlling melasma, it is important to protect the skin from the sun, use a skin bleaching product such as hydrouinone, wear a big hat and use a sunblock that protects from both UVA and UVB sun rays.  Melasma may also get worse when the skin is red or inflamed, so sometimes a mild cortisone cream like 1% hydrocortisone can be helpful.  Lasers may be useful, but rarely is laser treatment enough to clear up melasma.  The PicoWay is a 1064nm and 532nm laser that my help break up pigment and make the abnormal pigment more likely to respond the the bleaching products.  The PicoSure Laser and the 1550nm Fraxel and the Palomar 1540nm lasers can also be helpful.   Newer bleaching products like the Cosmion Mask and Skin Brightening Gel 8 can also very helpful to clear melasma.  Most women who have a strong tendency to get melasma need to follow this skin care routine for many years to keep their skin clean.   When treating olive skin, it is important not to be too aggressive with lasers.  Melasma can get worse if the skin is irritated and made red and inflamed with laser treatment.