BACKGROUND Melasma is a common facial skin disorder seen in women. Manual acupuncture (MA) is widely used alone or in combination with conventional treatments for melasma in China. OBJECTIVES To assess the effectiveness and safety of MA for melasma, and explore the range of treatments applied. METHODS Six databases were searched systematically for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) on acup...

INTRODUCTION Melasma/hyperpigmentation and solar damage of the skin remains a difficult problem to treat. Various types of whitening agents are used to treat hyperpigmentation. A change has been observed recently to use plant extracts as skin whitening agents. AIM To compare the effectiveness of emulsion formulations containing plant extracts that include catechins/polyphenols and placebo wit...

Although various treatment methods for melasma have developed, substantial improvement of the condition is sometimes difficult. We have experientially found that some of refractory melasma caused by daily friction can easily be treated by using a combination of a peeling agent (20% glycolic acid) and a depigmenting agent (5% hydroquinone) twice daily at home. And here, by performing skin biopsi...

This article describes a long-term, multicenter, open-label, 12-month study of once-daily fluocinolone acetonide 0.01%, hydroquinone 4%, tretinoin 0.05% (Tri-Luma Cream, hereinafter called TC [triple combination]) application in the treatment of melasma. A total of 228 patients with facial melasma were enrolled and treated; 173 patients (76%) completed the study. Most patients had 1 to 2 course...

BACKGROUND Recently, low fluence collimated Q-switched (QS) Nd:YAG laser has drawn attention for the treatment of melasma. However, it needs a lot of treatment sessions for the substantial results and repetitive laser exposures may end up with unwanted depigmentation. OBJECTIVE We evaluated the clinical effects and safety of the combinational treatment, using intense pulsed light (IPL) and lo...

Copyright: © 2014 Panda S, et al. the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Our understanding of melasma as a disease has undergone a radical shift in the past decade or two [1]. The landmark paper by Sanchez et al. published in 1981 first provided for...

BACKGROUND Melasma is a common acquired symmetrical hypermelanosis that occurs on sun-exposed areas, and it is frequently observed among women. Various treatment modalities have been tried, but none are completely satisfactory. 4-n-butylresorcinol, which is a resorcinol derivative that has an inhibitory effect on both tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein-1, was introduced in 1995 and it ha...

BACKGROUND Low-fluence 1064 nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser has recently been shown to be effective for the melasma treatment. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of low-fluence 1064 nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser treatment of melasma in Asian patients. METHODS Fifty patients with melasma underwent 15 weeks of weekly treatments, using a Q-switched Nd:Y...

Treatment of melasma remains challenging due to frequent relapses and the occurrence of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH) following many interventions. Treatment goals are inhibition of melanin synthesis and transfer by sunscreens, sun avoidance and the use of bleaching agents on one hand and removal of already present pigment by peeling, lasers and light on the other hand. Triple combi...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Melasma and acquired dermal melanocytosis (ADM; acquired bilateral nevus of Ota-like macules) are both seen most commonly symmetrically on the face of women with darker skin and are also known as difficult conditions to treat. METHODS Our topical bleaching protocol with 0.1 to 0.4% tretinoin gel and 5% hydroquinone was performed repeatedly (1-3 times) for melasma (n=1...