Top 3 Melasma Tips

You have to be very, very careful if you have melasma because anything that you do to your skin that can cause inflammation can make your melasma worse. So what are the three things that I recommend all melasma patients? Number one, protect your skin every single day an SPF 30+ tinted sunscreen. You want to have a tinted sunscreen because the tint contains iron oxide that not only protects your skin from UV radiation, which makes melasma worse, but also from the blue light that comes off of our phones and our computers that also makes melasma worse. Number two, you want to minimize how many carbohydrates you take in. Avoid processed foods, avoid sugars because these convert into sugar in your body. Think about toast. That Maillard reaction where carbohydrates mixed with heat makes toast brown. Same thing happens on your skin. I've seen it time and time again over the last 20 years. And number three, you have to avoid heat. Heat makes melasma worse. So unfortunately, saunas are not for you, steam rooms are not for you, and hot yoga's not for you right now. If you do these things, give it about three months and your melasma will be improved.