The Pigmentation Protocol

Last year we all read about ‘Glass Skin’ – heralding from Korea, it was a trend in the beauty that was all about clear, reflective skin so loaded up on hyaluronic acid and water-based toners it was glass-like its appearance.

This year, the skincare style from Seoul is ‘Cloudless Skin’. The trend is less focused on hydration and more on clarity; to have cloudless skin you have to be without blemishes, without redness and certainly – certainly – without pigmentation.

While a little awareness of inflammation can calm the first two of those issues, the latter is rather more difficult to tackle. Pigmentation exists at every level of the dermis – surface and base. That’s because it’s caused both externally, with sun damage, and internally, with hormonal upheavals.

Surface level pigmentation can be post-inflammatory pigmentation – often the result of acne or burning – but primarily it is often sun-damage. UVA rays from the sun stimulate cells that manufacture melanin, the pigment that is not only responsible for your tan but also unwanted dark patches. These dark patches or ‘sunspots’ can often take weeks, months or even years to fully develop – the majority of sun damage remains under the surface of the skin, unseen.

Pigmentation can also manifest due to hormonal reasons – this is called melasma, and typically exists deep within the dermis until pregnancy (although can be brought out with the contraceptive pill, sun damage, medication or even stress).

Both types of pigmentation can be solved with a combination of topical & clinical solutions – here’s how.