I had my first child when I was 24, when just about everything in my body was running like clockwork and my skin held up perfectly to all the normal trials of hormonal swings and weight gain. I walked out of that pregnancy without a single mark or stretch mark, virtually unscathed, and assumed I was just naturally lucky. By my third child I was getting close to 30 years old and noticed very small, slightly darkened patches of skin on my face, but they were so light and easily hidden with tinted moisturizer I didn’t even give them a thought. Then, last year, I was pregnant with baby number four at 32 years old when I suddenly noticed that the skin on my face seemed freckled. (Here are some skin-care rules everyone with freckles should know.)
The wide, soft brown freckles took me by surprise because I wasn’t born with them, I didn’t have them growing up—I didn’t even have them a few months ago. Apparently, they were a sort of gift with purchase while carrying my fourth baby. At some point I asked my ob-gyn what the spots were and if they meant anything for my health. “You have melasma spots,” she replied. “They come with the hormonal territory, and they’re nothing to write home about. You can deal with them after the baby is out.” We didn’t talk about it again, and I went on with pregnancy and life.
Five months after my baby was born, I decided to get more serious about treating the spots because my regular tinted cream wasn’t doing the job anymore. It was time to talk to a dermatologist. I made an appointment with a New York City dermatologist and creator of Sea Radiance skin care, Debra Jaliman, MD, to ask “What is melasma, anyway?”
“Melasma, also called the mask of pregnancy, is very common,” she explained to me. “It looks like dark brown discoloration that appears on the forehead, cheeks, or upper lip and it can occur in up to 50 percent of pregnant women,” she says. “Pregnancy hormones make skin more sensitive to sunlight, which is why it’s important to wear SPF 30 sunscreen every day when you find out you’re pregnant.” (Do you know the about these sunscreen myths?) Research underscores Dr. Jaliman’s advice: This study shows that pregnant women who engage in outdoor activities—that would be me—are particularly likely to develop melasmas.
I felt better knowing that I wasn’t alone, but obviously wanted to find out what melasma treatments were available for me—and how effective they are. After a careful inspection of the mocha-colored spots strewn about my cheekbones, Dr. Jaliman said, “This shouldn’t be too hard. We’re going to zap your affected areas with an Acutip laser. The treatment will take just a few minutes and the laser itself will bring the pigment to the surface of the skin, where it will eventually crust and scab and then just fade away.” (For more skin-care tips from dermatologists, check out this.)
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I wondered how anything that would scab or crust could be painless, but I kept that thought to myself. Dr. Jaliman was right: The laser felt like someone was gently flicking me with their fingers—there really wasn’t any pain. My skin felt a little warm the rest of the day and it was red for a few hours following the treatment. The next morning was the shocker: I woke up to see my formerly pale brown melasmas looking very dark. The following day the spots were even darker; it looked like I had taken a Sharpie to my skin. I was definitely concerned, but figured I’d let it go a couple more days.
Three days post-treatment, my spots literally started flaking off in my hands. While washing my face before bed, large freckle-like spots actually fell onto my fingers. My husband thought I was insane because I was yelping from the bathroom. I’ve never had the experience of wiping spots off my skin as if they were stickers. I couldn’t believe it. On day four, the spots continued to flake and wear off almost like I had done a poor job of removing dark makeup.
Little by little, day by day, I noticed my skin return to the smooth, unblemished complexion I’d had five years and two children ago. “With Acutip it can take a patient up to four weeks, but there’s gradual improvement,” explains Dr. Jaliman. “The results are permanent unless you go back into strong sunlight without proper protection. In such cases it can take a few treatments.” I’m wearing my sunscreen religiously and marveling at the way my skin looks.
from Reader's Digest http://ift.tt/2qnfU9a
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