Pigmentation & uneven tone.
What this actually is
Pigmentation is melanin in the wrong place, and it arrives by several different routes that do not respond to the same treatment.
Post-inflammatory pigmentation is the mark left behind after a spot, a scratch or a burn — the skin over-produced melanin while healing. It fades on its own, slowly, and it is the most treatable kind. Sun-induced pigmentation, the freckling and flat brown patches across cheekbones and the backs of hands, is cumulative exposure showing up years later. Melasma is different again: larger, symmetrical patches driven substantially by hormones and heat, common in pregnancy and on the pill, and stubborn in a way the others are not.
Two things are true of all of them. First, sunscreen is not optional here — it is the active. Without daily SPF, a brightening serum is refilling a bath with the plug out, and every professional treatment you pay for will partially undo itself. Second, progress is measured in months, not weeks.
If patches are new, changing shape or asymmetrical, have them looked at by a doctor before treating them cosmetically. That is not us being cautious for the sake of it.
A routine that suits it
Where we would start. Build it up one step at a time rather than all at once.
- Treat
A brightening serum on the areas you want to shift — consistency matters far more than strength.
What we use - Moisturise
A barrier that is coping pigments less after irritation, which is half the battle.
What we use - Protect
The actual active ingredient. Daily, all year, reapplied if you are outdoors — no exceptions with pigmentation.
What we use
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Show 8 moreFrequently asked
- How long before I see a difference?
- Twelve weeks is a fair first checkpoint, and melasma can take considerably longer. Pigment sits at different depths and the deeper it is, the slower it moves. Anything promising a result in a fortnight is either describing surface exfoliation or overselling. Photographs in the same light once a month are far more reliable than your memory of how it looked.
- Is sunscreen really that important for dark marks?
- It is the single most important part, more than any serum. UV is what tells the cell to make more pigment, so without daily SPF you are treating and re-triggering at the same time. This holds in Irish weather and through cloud. If you only manage one step from this page, make it that one.
- Can you treat melasma in the salon?
- We can work with it, and we are honest that melasma is managed rather than cured — it is hormonally driven and it recurs. Some treatments that suit sun spots can actually worsen melasma with heat, so it matters that someone identifies which kind you have before starting. Come in for a consultation rather than booking a treatment blind.