Talking About Skin Pigmentation Disorders
Basically speaking, skin pigmentation is all about the coloring of a person’s skin. The body’s skin cells produce a substance known as melanin, which is responsible for helping determine the kind of skin pigmentation a person will have. Skin color depends on what a person’s racial origin is and the amount of sunlight they are usually exposed to.
Terms and skin conditions that are commonly discussed in relation to skin pigmentation are terms such as age spots, liver spots, acne scarring, post-inflammatory pigmentation, wound scarring, moles, flat moles, brown spots, keratosis, melasma, freckles, seborrheic keratosis, actinic keratosis, sun spots, solar lentigo, chloasma, mask of pregnancy, birthmarks, port-wine stains, and so on and so forth. The terms stated above all have some kind of connection with skin pigmentation. This is due to the fact that skin problems usually show up as skin pigmentation disorders.
Disorders associated with skin pigmentation usually result from irregularities in melanin production within the body. Damaged skin cells or unhealthy skin cells influence the body’s production of melanin which in turn causes irregularities in skin pigmentation.
Pigmentation disorders may affect only small portions of a person’s skin or affect the whole body itself. Hypopigmentation and hyperpigmentation are the two principal classifications of skin discoloration problems. The first classification, hypopigmentation, is concerned with the irregular reduction of skin color while hyperpigmentation is concerned with irregular increased skin color.
How does hyperpigmentation occur? It occurs when there is an excessive production of the skin’s melanin. The result is a person having darker skin pigmentation that is really not their usual skin color. The other name for hyperpigmentation is dyschromia. The most typically afflicted parts of the body where the discoloration appears are the hands, arms and face.
Categorized under dyschromia are age spots, sun spots, liver spots, freckles, and melasma. Causes of dyschromia can be too much sun exposure, pregnancy, Addison’s disease, hormonal changes, acne, failed skin treatments, as well as heredity. In the case of hypopigmentation, melanin that is reduced in quantitiy makes the skin lighter than it actually should be. Pityriasis alba, Tinea versicolor, blisters, burns, vitiligo, infections albinism, etc. are just several of the causes behind the reduced melanin production in hypopigmentation.
Regardless of what kind of skin pigmentation problem one has, it usually makes the person unsatisfied with the skin they have. That is the reason of a lot of people who search for the right medical treatments to solve their skin problems. Skin pigmentation disorders can be treated through several ways. Creams are used as one way for lots of people to treat their skin. Individuals use the creams since they give some relief for their skin condition. Individuals also make use of skin lightening products which have retinoids, kojic acid, hydroquinone and Vitamin C.
A a person’s skin color is always a major issue when it comes to beauty. It is therefore no wonder that the cosmetic industry and medical world invest so much for the sake of research and development on treatments for skin disorders with discoloration.