Melasma is an acquired diffuse hypermelanosis characterized by localized, symmetrical, irregular, light-to-dark brown maculae occurring in sun-exposed areas of skin. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine demographics of patients, analysis of etiologic factors, clinical features, efficacy and side effects of available topical treatments due to high incidence of melasma patients. I...

BACKGROUND Very little is known about possible association of nevi and melasma. The study objective was to determine if there is an association between melasma and existence of different kinds of nevi. METHODS In a case-control study, 120 female melasma patients referred to dermatology clinic of Ardabil and 120 patients referred to other specialty clinics who lacked melasma were enrolled afte...

Background Melasma is an acquired pigmentary disorder that is often therapeutically challenging. Recent evidence suggests that vascular abnormalities are involved in melasma pathogenesis. Pulsed-dye laser (PDL) is considered as standard therapy for vascular lesions. Objective To assess the efficacy of PDL combined with low-fluence Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (QSNY) in the treatment of melasma. ...

BACKGROUND Rosacea and melasma are two common skin conditions in dermatology. Both conditions have a predilection for the centrofacial region where the sebaceous gland density is the highest. However it is not known if sebaceous function has an association with these conditions. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES We aimed to assess the relationship between facial glabellar wrinkle severity and facial sebum ...

Background. Some of the patients with melasma perhaps have pigmented cosmetic dermatitis. However, cosmetic contact sensitivity in melasma remains poorly studied particularly in the Indian context. Objectives. To study cosmetic contact sensitivity in patients with melasma. Materials and Methods. 67 (F : M = 55 : 12) consecutive patients with melasma between 19 and 49 years of age were patch tes...

Melasma is a common, acquired facial skin disorder, mostly involving sun-exposed areas like cheeks, forehead and upper lip. Melasma occurs in both sexes, although almost 90 percent of the affected are women. It is more common in darker skin types (Fitzpatrick skin types IV to VI) especially Hispanics/Latinos, Asians and African-Americans. The onset of the melasma is at puberty or later, with ex...

BACKGROUND Melasma is difficult to treat and often recalcitrant to various treatments such as topical preparations and lasers. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser in Asian patients with melasma. METHODS Twenty-three Korean patients (skin types III-V) with melasma were treated with the 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1-week intervals for 1...

BACKGROUND Melasma poses a great challenge as its treatment is unsatisfactory and recurrence is high. Treatment of melasma using tranexamic acid (oral, topical or intralesional) is a novel concept. OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of oral tranexamic acid with routine topical therapies for the treatment of melasma. METHODS It is a prospective, interventional, randomized controlled trial con...

Melasma is an acquired increased pigmentation of the skin, characterized by gray-brown symmetrical patches, mostly in the sun-exposed areas of the skin. The pathogenesis is unknown, but genetic or hormonal influences with UV radiation are important. Our present research aims to study the clinicoepidemiological pattern and the precipitating or provocation factors in melasma. A total of 36 patien...

A close contact between melanocytes and nerve fibers in the epidermis has been demonstrated in normal human skin. The interactions between the neural and immune systems play an important role in the pathophysiology of certain dermatoses. In this study, we investigated the intraepidermal nerve fibers and their contacts with melanocytes in the lesions of melasma using double labeled immunofluores...