Laser treatments have become so popular that billions of people have already undergone at least 1 laser procedure in his/her life. Well, lasers also have certain limitations. For instance, lasers can cause certain side effects, including hyperpigmentation.
Hyperpigmentation from Laser
- Most laser technologies will employ pulses of light that will produce heat to destroy something that was targeted.For instance, the technology is popular in permanent hair removal, scar removal or skin resurfacing, mole removal, and melasma removal.
- When the hyperpigmentation is caused by lasers, then the laser must have produced a certain amount of heat that activated the body to produce more melanin. The amount of melanin on the skin is the primary indicator as to what color that skin will have. Thus, if there is an overproduction of melanin, then the skin would be dark.
- Even in laser procedures that aim to erase hyperpigmentation, there is always a risk of causing its own hyperpigmentation, too.
- Now, in hyperpigmentation, only some portions have darker skin so that the result is uneven skin tone. This is unsightly and could be easily noticed, especially if the patient is very fair in color.
- Still, if the hyperpigmentation was caused by a laser procedure, there is always a large chance that it will eventually fade away in time. However, there are cases when the damage is more permanent and the skin continues to stay darker than the rest of the body. To solve this problem, the patient may have to undergo another laser treatment – this time, called laser skin resurfacing.
Hyperpigmentation from Laser Hair Removal
- Laser hair removal is one of the major procedures where hyperpigmentation is often observed.
- As the laser beams or pulses are passed on the skin to destroy the follicles, there is always a chance that this could trigger the production of melanin on that part of the body.
- Hyperpigmentation should not be confused with the dark burns that could be caused by the procedure. Burns are often painful while hyperpigmentation rarely hurt at all.
- As mentioned above, if the hyperpigmentation does not clear out by itself, the patient may have to undergo skin resurfacing.
- The hyperpigmentation that is due to laser hair removal will only affect the area where the laser device was passed. The reason for this is that these are the only portions that were stimulated by the laser light and heat.