Your search for an effective pigmentation treatment in Singapore ends now

Health

Pigmentation is a common skin concern of people who come through the four corners of an aesthetic clinic. Dark spots of different shapes and sizes can develop on any area of your skin and they can be an eyesore, especially when they appear on the face. The fact that you have landed on this page lets us know that you are searching for an effective pigmentation treatment in Singapore. Today is your lucky day as we reveal in this article an aesthetic procedure that will surely help clear your skin from pesky pigmentation.

But first, let’s learn about why and how pigmentation happens.

Skin 101: All about pigments

A person’s skin colour is formed by a particular pigment called melanin. Melanocytes are the special cells in the body tasked to produce melanin. The kind of melanin and the quantity produced are the factors that determine a person’s skin colour. Aside from giving the skin colour, melanin also works to protect the skin cells from sun damage.

There are three types of melanin:

Eumelanin — This type of melanin is brown to black in colour and it is the most common melanin form. The varying quantity of brown or black melanin determines how light or dark the pigment of the skin becomes.
Pheomelanin — This type of melanin gives colour to the lips, nipples and other parts of the body that are pinkish in colour.
Neuromelanin — This type of melanin has no effect on the pigments influencing the skin’s colour, but it is responsible for giving the neurons colour.

Although all humans have the same amount of melanocytes that produce melanin in the body, the quantity of melanin produced by these special cells differs uniquely from one person to another. If you have darker skin, then it means that you have more melanin as compared to people with lighter skin tone.

There are also other benefits that the body gets from melanin. Melanin protects the body from UV rays that can damage the skin and likewise block reactive oxygen species (ROS) from building up in cells. ROS are harmful elements that can cause health problems, like cancer and diabetes. Melanin gets rid of the ROS in the body and boosts the immune system with antioxidants.

A problem called pigmentation

While melanin does a great job in acting as the body’s first line of defence against the sun’s harsh rays, absorbing too much UV rays also has its complications.

One of the things you will easily notice among Asians is that our skin easily tans or becomes darker when exposed excessively to the sun without proper skin protection. Your skin turning into a shade deeper after sunbathing is a sign that the melanin in your skin is doing its job to keep your skin from being damaged from the UV rays. And melanin also has its breaking point. When it can no longer take in any more harmful rays, the skin loses its shield and, as a result, develops sunburn.

Damaged or unhealthy melanocytes have a negative effect on the body’s ability to produce melanin. Skin damage does not only come from UV rays, but it can also be caused by other factors like skin inflammation or infection. Pigmentation problems usually happen when this happens and a telltale sign of this occurrence are marks, spots, or patches of skin that appear darker than the usual skin tone. Common pigmentation disorders are:

Age spots — This pigmentation disorder is often found on the face, shoulders, arms, and hands. They are usually flat, small, brown to dark brown, grey, or black in colour.

Freckles — Another term for this condition is solar lentigines. Freckles are tiny flat spots on the skin that may appear in multiples and spread out on an area that is regularly exposed to the sun. Freckles usually have the same colour: beige, brown, or red.

Melasma — Melasma is a unique pigmentation problem. Unlike most that are caused by sun exposure, Melasma on the other hand is believed to be due to various factors such as hormonal imbalance or sensitivity, medication, and pregnancy. Sun exposure is not off the hook completely as it still plays a critical factor in Melasma development. Too much sun can aggravate the condition. This condition can be identified by bluish-grey or brown patches of pigments that cover a wide area of the face.

Post inflammatory hyperpigmentation — Similar to melasma, Post Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation (PIH) is another skin disorder that is not caused by UV rays. Injury or inflammation in the skin is the usual culprit for this skin tone disruptor. A wound or swelling in the skin that has healed completely usually leaves the colour of the affected skin much darker.

Pigmentation treatment in Singapore

Pigmentation treatments in Singapore abound in many ways. However, if you are looking for a safe, tested and proven, non-surgical, and minimally invasive procedure to clear your pigmentation woes, then we recommend that you speak with your medical provider about lasers.

Two of the most effective lasers often used for pigmentation treatment in Singapore are:

Pro-Yellow Laser — Works effectively in treating melasma

Spectra Pigmentation Laser — Works effectively in treating age spots, freckles, melasma, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation

When used on pigmentation disorders, these powerful laser equipment release energy charged light that targets the spots of abnormal melanin growth in the skin and shatters the pigments into tiny little pieces. These powdered particles then go through the body’s natural process of waste elimination.

What to expect during a pigmentation treatment in Singapore

Laser treatments have become quite popular for treating pigmentations as this procedure is quick and requires very minimal to zero downtime. About an hour is needed at most to get a session of pigmentation treatment inserted into one of your daily to-do lists.

It is important that a doctor assesses your skin’s condition first prior to scheduling a laser pigmentation treatment. This is so the symptoms can be diagnosed and the right laser equipment is chosen to give you optimum results.

On the day of your pigmentation treatment in Singapore, you can expect to go through these steps:

Your face gets cleaned and prepped for the procedure
You will be asked to cover your eyes with protective shades to avoid damage from the laser
Your doctor will then adjust the laser equipment to the right setting
Your doctor will pass through the target areas with a handheld device that emits laser light
You will feel a mild tingling sensation as the laser treats your skin
The session ends in around 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the extent of pigmentation that needs to be treated in the skin

The number of laser treatments that you will need will be determined by your doctor. Laser pigmentation treatments are usually done in an interval of three to four weeks. Effective results are usually noticeable after five to six sessions.