Many of our patients are concerned with the appearance of their skin, notably dark or pigmented areas on an uneven skin tome. Sometimes they ask whether botox can treat this. Botox will smooth out any lines caused by the muscles contracting but wont improve the skin pigmenttion. The way I explain it to my patients is that botox is like a frame of a painting and the skin is like the canvas. The two go hand in hand and the best results are achieved when you treat booth the lines and the skin.
An uneven skin tone, or hyper pigmentation, is the result of an over production of melanin. Melanin is what gives skin and hair its colour, helps protect skin against damaging UV light and absorbs heat from the sun. However, an overproduction of melanin stimulated by excessive sun exposure, hormones, or scarring, leads to a mottled, uneven skin tone. For example:
1) Sun exposure: When skin is repeatedly exposed to UV light, sun damage occurs. Brown spots appear as a result of too much melanin being produced to help protect skin from UV light. This can happen even on cloudy days where there will still be some uv light present.
2) Hormones: Melasma is hormone-related hyper pigmentation caused by increased hormone stimulation.
3) Post-Inflammatory Hyper pigmentation: This is a darkening of skin that’s the result of scarring, which can be caused by acne lesions or skin injury.
The daily use of sun protection is critical.
Even the strictest of brightening regimens can be counteracted by minimal exposure to UV light. When a hyper pigmented area is exposed to UV light, more melanin production is triggered on a cellular level, causing further darkening. Ironically, this production of melanin is just your skin trying to protect itself from damaging UV light.
Daily application of SPF will help shield skin from UV light to control melanin production on a cellular level. It can even help lessen the appearance of hyper pigmentation triggered by hormone fluctuations (such as melasma) or post-inflammatory hyper pigmentation (scarring).
The most common pattern of melasma is centrofacial: on the chin, upper lip, cheeks, nose, and forehead. But it can also show up to a lesser extent on the cheeks, nose, and jaw line.
Ask us at botox hertfordshire for more information on 01438 300111.