Dark spots are typically left behind after your skin has experienced some type of inflammation (acne, mosquito bites, etc). These are called post inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH).
Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation is one of the commonest skincare concerns most people face despite using products which should help.
What you don’t know is that, you could be doing skincare wrong or not doing enough which is why your dark spots aren’t going away.
5 Reasons Why Your Dark Spots Aren’t Going Away
1. Picking Your Skin: Your pimple is most likely going to leave a darker spot after it’s healed when you keep picking it as opposed to when you don’t. This also applies to ingrown hairs, the more you pick the hairs, the darker the bumps become.
2. No Sun Protection: If you’re not wearing protective clothing or using sunscreen with spf30 and above on exposed skin during the daytime, your spots will keep getting darker.
Melanin protects the skin against UV rays therefore, exposure to sunlight causes the skin to produce more melanin making your spots darker.
3. Using Depigmenting Products Without Sun Protection: Depigmenting products are products which contain ingredients capable of inhibiting melanin production and lightening dark spots.
Examples of such products are hydroquinone, niacinamide, arbutin, Kojic acid, etc. These products can make your skin more sensitive to the sun. It’s important to use sun protection while using them to minimize this effect.
Other products that can cause skin sensitivity are chemical exfoliants such as AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids – glycolic acid, lactic acid, etc).
4. Using The Wrong Sun Protection: It is not enough to use sunscreens with SPF30 and above when dealing with hyperpigmentation. While treating hyperpigmentation, reapply during the day and avoid using 100% chemical sunscreens.
Chemical sunscreens absorb uv rays which the body gives off as heat. Heat can stimulate the pigment cells (melanocytes) to produce more melanin which can worsen your dark spots.
Example of Chemical sunscreen ingredients (chemical UV filters) to look out for are oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate and octinoxate.
5. Overexfoliation: While those dark spots could be very annoying, trying to scrub them off or use harsh products won’t solve the problem. You’ll only stimulate melanin production as the body will always try to protect your skin.
There, you have it – 5 reasons why your dark spots aren’t going away! Which of them are you guilty of?
This post was originally posted on Shop Modavracha.
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