How To Treat Uneven Skin Tone

Uneven skin tone is a skin condition that many of us have at some point in our lives. We often think of them as ugly spots on our face or body, trying our best to cover up or dreaming of a day that our skin could return back to its original state.

The nature of uneven skin tone or skin pigmentation can impact each individual to varying degrees. While it is natural to have some form of differing skin colour, for certain people or ethnicities uneven skin tone can be a big problem. Today’s article is about what you can do to treat your uneven skin tone, & what uneven skin tone products you should be using.

Skin pigmentation and uneven skin tone are difficult conditions to resolve. Most likely the damage that has occurred on your skin from the sun’s UV radiation has happened a long time ago. It is just now that you are starting to see some of the side-effects. Some people will suggest going to a laser clinic as a quick solution, but this can often be an expensive and drastic solution. When using lasers on uneven skin, it causes a thinning of the skin, this brings your capillaries near to the skin surface and can cause premature ageing. Often short term solutions, don’t get to the heart of the issue, which is around protection from the sun's UV rays and coming up with a suitable solution to manage your specific type of skin pigmentation, skin type and overall condition.

Uneven skin tone can show itself in many different ways. Depending on your ethnic background or tone of your skin, texture of your skin, whether the uneven skin is due to hormones or shows itself as brown patches. No matter how or when the skin pigmentation formed, once it has shown itself on your skin surface, it will continue to occur.

What Is Uneven Skin Or Skin Pigmentation

Our skin is made up of three layers. On the surface we have the epidermis, which provides a waterproof barrier for our skin and creates the tone of skin that we have. Below the epidermis we have the dermis, this is where we have our hair follicles, sweat glands and our connective tissue. The skins bottom layer is called the hypodermis, this is where our fat cells are stored and other connective tissue.

In the deepest part of our body’s epidermis, we have cells called melanocytes. The tone of our skin is formed from a pigment called melanin, formed in our melanocyte cells. The amount of melanocyte cells in our bodies varies, though typically it is between 5-10% of our total skin cells. While it is not the total number of melanocyte cells that controls our skin tone, lighter coloured skin typically has fewer of these cells. What causes darker skin is how active the melanocyte cells are and how much melanin they produce. This is why we get darker skin with increased exposure to sunlight. Our melanocyte cells respond to the sun’s UV rays by becoming more active and producing more melanin.

How To Avoid Uneven Skin Tone?

As we mentioned above, when your skin is left unprotected and exposed to the sun, it will naturally create more melanin. Melanin itself is black, and absorbs/blocks the UV rays more efficiently. When our body creates melanin, it is somewhat spread around a localised area, this gives a greater overall protection for your skin. This doesn’t always happen however. When melanin is focused in 1 small area of your skin it shows itself as a small dark spots on your skin, also known as a freckle, mole or an age spot. This is often caused when damage has been caused to the DNA of our skin.

The best way to avoid uneven skin tone is to protect your skin from harmful UV rays from the sun. It is natural for everyone to have a certain level of damage to our skin, being outdoors is in our DNA as Australians. As we get older, we naturally have more damage than when we were younger (this is why they are known as age spots or kidney spots). The first thing we need to do is avoid more damage occurring to the skin from the sun’s UV rays. So when you outside for extended periods of time (over 15 - 20 minutes), it’s important to protect your skin with sunscreen & cover your skin with clothing, hats & sunglasses.

What Causes Uneven Skin Tone & Pigmentation

Repeated exposure to the sun’s UV rays are a common cause of uneven skin tone. However, there are other reasons why uneven skin tone or pigmentation can occur in the skin. Let’s look at a few of the most common reasons why:

The most common reason for uneven skin tone or pigmentation is continual exposure to the sun’s radiation. Often for women there can be other causes as well though, most of these are related to what is happening to our bodies at specific time.

Pregnancy

When we are pregnant our sensitivity to UV radiation is heightened. If our skin is exposed to the sun it can be easier to damage our DNA. During this time our melanocyte cells go into overdrive because our sensitivity and produce much higher levels of melanin.

Hormones

Our melanocyte cells are controlled by the hormones in our body. When our body is experiencing changes, whether through pregnancy, menopause, diet, medication, stress or sleep levels your hormones can influence how much melanin is produced. This can be compounded with repeated sun exposure during these times.

Birth Control / Hormone Replacement

When taking birth control or hormone replacement medication, your hormone levels change. This can cause pigmentation of dark spots on your face. Sometimes these can go away naturally a couple of months after you have stopped taking the medication, however this is not always the case. If this could be the cause for your uneven skin tone, then it’s best to consult your GP for further advice.

Menopause

Menopause is a natural time signalling the end of your reproductive opportunities. During this time your hormone levels are gradually decreasing, however this process isn’t always steady. Often there are days where hormone levels spike. Your ovaries which are starting to slow down control estrogen levels in your body. Estrogen is one of the key hormones that controls melanin levels. Over time the number of melanocyte cells decrease throughout the menopause period. During this time, the decrease in melanocyte cells and melanin production causes your skin to appear lighter, but this actually only highlights any skin pigmentation that already exists, making them more noticeable.

Not only does the decrease in melanocyte cells highlight your current skin spots, it also makes your skin more sensitive to UV rays, damage to DNA and more sun dark patches.

Injury To The Skin

Uneven skin tone can also occur when there has been some form of injury to the skin. Whether it is through physical damage or through inflammation after acne, eczema or an allergic reaction, trauma to the skin can cause melanocyte cells to produce higher levels of skin pigmentation. This type of pigmentation has a range of colours depending on the original skin tone and severity of the trauma.

The uneven skin tone comes after the injury has healed and can appear on your face or body. Both men and woman are susceptible to post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, but it does affect affect some ethnicities more than others. Typically Asian & Indian people are more prone to this form of uneven skin tone.

What Products To Avoid With Uneven Skin?

Because there is no issue with congestion or the surface layer of the skin, there are no real products to avoid if you have uneven skin tone. If you are also managing other skin conditions (like dry or congested skin), then it is best to use products that are suited to manage those conditions along with your uneven skin.

Best Uneven Skin Tone Products To Use

Prevention is the most important step. If you are outside for extended periods of time, then it is best to cover your skin with suitable clothing, hats & sunglasses. Natural based products are much better for your skin. Look for products that are tyrosine inhibitors which help to balance the melanin production in your skin. 

To manage your current uneven skin tone, you need to follow a specific routine. To get started treating the problem our Colour Derma Serum is the first point of call. Once you have applied your skin, you need to exfoliate with our Colour Re-Moist Gel and finally moisturise with our Colour Derma Cream which is designed for pigmented skin. Bio-Pacifc’s Colour Derma Serum & Cream contain Swiss Garden Water Crest which helps to balance your melanin production.

Treating Uneven Skin Tone and Pigmentation?

Treating uneven skin tone & pigmentation can be a long process, as the skin has often been damaged for years before showing itself as dark brown spots. To treat uneven skin tone you need to follow a strict daily skin routine and also look at what other areas of your life that may be having an impact.

While treatment times will vary from person to person, don’t expect results overnight. Any creams that you use need to get to the basal layer of your skin, this is the innermost layer of the epidermis. The basal layer is where skin cells divide and eventually work towards the surface of your skin. If you don’t treat the pigmentation at its deepest level, then you will never truly fix the issue.

Skin Routine To Treat Uneven Skin Tone

Following a skin care routine for your uneven skin tone is an important step in managing your condition. We have a variety of different routines depending on how serious your pigmentation is, you can view our full uneven skin tone routines here and find what works best for you.

Below we have put together an ideal routine. It’s important that you maintain good skin health and not just try to solve the pigmentation. As always if you have any questions feel free to reach out.

1, Cleans with Cleansing Milk

2, Balance pH with Balancing Lotion 

3, Hydrate the skin withCollagen Moist Gel

4, Treat pigmentation with Colour Derma Serum 

5, Exfoliate with Colour Re-Moist Gel

Bonus add Xcell Vitamin Boost Solution or Xcell Vitamin Boost Serum to boost Effectiveness

6, Moisturise with Colour Derma Cream 

Tips To Improve Skin Tone

Your lifestyle can affect the health of your skin and the severity of your uneven skin tone. It’s important to always look for the root cause and fix that area first, otherwise you will never find a permanent solution.

Sun Light & Heat are the enemy of skin pigmentation. Be sure to always cover your skin and apply high quality sunscreen whenever outdoors.

In conjunction with your skin care products for pigmentation, also look for creams that contain vitamin C for example our C-Complex Cream. Your body cannot naturally store vitamin C, and it has many positive impacts on skin health and UV damage. 

Keep well hydrated and maintain a healthy diet. What you put into your body has a huge impact on your hormones. By maintaining a healthy diet, you are naturally keeping your body in balance.

Let us know if you have any questions or what you have used which has helped your uneven skin or pigmentation. We always love to hear your feedback.