When there’s a laser treatment for every skin concern, how do you go about choosing the best laser to solve your melasma for good?

Lasers have revolutionised the way we treat all skin concerns; pass by a dermatologist’s office or peruse a skin clinic treatment menu and it’s a full rundown of lasers. But just as Michelin Star wine lists can be as decipherable as hieroglyphics, so can the endless laser treatment derivatives.

Melasma may appear very similar to other types of hyperpigmentation but whereas the majority are sun-induced, melasma is a form of hyperpigmentation caused by hormonal changes within the body. This makes melasma particularly difficult to treat as it can reoccur within the body at any time. Melasma is very common amongst pregnant women as they experience significant hormonal changes and most often presents on the face in a butterfly or mask shape. Melasma can fade on its own as hormones rebalance again, or it can be treated with topical creams and brightening agents but as with other strands of hyperpigmentation, skin lasers tend to achieve the most thorough results.

A wise place to start is by researching melasma causes before consulting a cosmetic doctor as to the origins behind your individual case of melasma. Once you have a background on your personal presentation, you can make an informed decision on if and how you might treat it.

The optimal laser treatment for melasma will be different from the preferred laser for wrinkles, the laser unrivalled for scarring will not be the same as that for sagging. Picture painted. The decision is down to the power, precision and the travel capacity of wavelengths emitted by each model but also by your own propensity for discomfort, life upheaval and wallet elasticity.

Consequently, the list of lasers for skin care rejuvenation is exhaustive but here’s a top line of approaches:

• Ablative lasers are those that cause superficial wounding to much of the skin’s surface, the fully ablative variety going as far as to remove the entire outer layer of the skin.

• Non-ablative lasers deliver intense thermal damage to skin by heating up the water content in cells, thus triggering skin’s emergency repair response to panic-produce more collagen.

• Fractionated lasers deliver their destruction in a highly-focused, pixelated manner to treat extremely small areas.

Models of in-clinic lasers commonly found in dermatologist clinics include:

• The Picosure

• The Halo

• Clear + Brilliant

• Nd:YAG

Research papers on in-clinic laser treatment for melasma find the Q-Switched Nd: YAG often comes out top. This is 1064 nm near-infrared laser light able to travel through skin layers and retain power intensity to create small channels of injury to the skin, commonly making the Nd:YAG the preferred in-clinic laser for melasma.

Redness, swelling, bleeding and bruising are all very common side-effects of all in-clinic skin lasers and the consequent healing time takes weeks. Other risks and complications of in-clinic laser treatment are:

• Leukoderma whereby the laser destroys melanin so dark skinned patients can develop erroneous and unwanted white patches

• Post-inflammatory pigmentation

• Bacterial infection to be treated with antibiotics

• In some cases, laser treatment can have the adverse effect of making melasma worse

• Melasma is a usually due to hormone secretion, therefore it can return at any time post treatment

*Costs are the average taken from price lists across Harley Street and London clinics.

Chemical peels treat the outermost layer of skin but will not eradicate hyperpigmentation. Microdermabrasion can lessen the appearance of dark patches in the short-term. IPL to treat melasma carries varying success rates as green light is readily absorbed by the hemoglobin in skin and therefore, the light doesn’t travel far down into the skin’s layers.

Although not an outright cure, supporting your skin health and optimising cellular energy is fundamental to preventing an limiting presentations of melasma. LYMA Skincare is effective and scientifically proven skincare. Engineered by the world’s most innovative geneticists instead of superficially treating the top 20% of cells in the skin, it targets 80% of living cells through every layer of the skin that conventional formulas cannot reach.

“This is understanding how skincare regimens can achieve more than was previously thought possible in terms of profound changes, addressing the root causes of aging,” lauds Dr Graeme E. Glass MD PhD Plastic Surgeon, Associate Professor of Surgery and the chief scientific mind behindLYMA Skincare’s ground-breaking formula.

In-clinic laser treatment can be incredibly effective and achieve the impressive melasma results you’re after but the upshot is that those results come with significant discomfort, skin trauma, downtime and cost, not to mention the risk of further skin issues. But no risk, no reward eh? Well, no, not really….

The LYMA Laser is the best of all worlds; no downtime, pain-free and proven to achieve incredible results. So what is this game-changing LYMA Laser for melasma?

First and foremost, the LYMA Laser is ideally suited to treating melasma as you can use it every single day on the areas you wish to target and watch them fade out. Then, should your melasma start to re-emerge as a result of hormonal changes, you can simply dial up your treatment frequency again.

The LYMA Laser is the ultimate inclusivity, achieving results for every ethnicity and the only laser device in existence that works on every single skin tone. The complete eradication of thermal damage means there is no danger whatsoever of causing post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation as with all other beauty lasers so everyone can benefit.

• It’s the world’s first cold laser beam technology containing the full power of clinic-grade lasers in a handheld device

• Completely pain-free laser treatment

• Safe for use yourself, without the need for protective goggles

• Entirely portable, rechargeable

Take a look at the impressive results you can achieve with the LYMA Laser.