Hi everybody, I'm Dr. Harshana Bijlani
Medical Head, Ageless Clinic.
We as Indians,
tend to get pigmentation.
So today, I'm going to talk to you all about pigmentation.
I'm going to cover, what is pigmentation?
and what are the causes of pigmentation?
What can we do about the pigmentation in terms of treatments?
and help prolong your treatment after
you've had it done.
So, starting with the first thing, what is pigmentation?
Pigmentation is just a technical term,
which is darkening of skin.
So, dark circles, acne marks,
sun tanning, all that comes under the
umbrella of pigmentation.
Freckles is another very common thing
that all comes under the umbrella of pigmentation.
The second thing is, what causes pigmentation?
Why is it that I get pigmented?
So we have certain pigment cells.
Out pigment cells really get attracted to sun.
And that's why they come out on the surface
and we look darker.
So that's tanning.
We are exposed to a lot of sun in our country.
So, the number 1 cause of pigmentation that I have seen
is sun exposure.
Second cause is genetics.
So let's say dark circles.
Sometimes, I see young 20 year olds
who have pigmentation or darkness under their eyes.
But in their family, everyone has that.
So genetics plays a very important role.
The third thing is certain marks that have been left behind.
So, let's say that a chicken pox scar or a pimple scar,
that mark is also called pigmentation.
The fourth is certain medical type of pigmentation
which I'm not going to get into detail.
And the other causes are freckles,
sun spots, age spots,
all these come under pigmentation.
The sixth and a really important cause of pigmentation
is friction.
This is something that I see in a lot of my patients.
So let's say for example, I sleep on the side.
Or let's say for example, every time I sweat,
I take a towel and scrub my face like it's a vessel.
I'm going to cause pigmentation.
Some people say "But I've been doing it since I was a kid.
Why is something happening to me now?"
Because as we grow older,
our skin becomes less forgiving.
So frictional pigmentation.
I'm going to touch upon a very important cause of pigmentation
and that is melasma.
I don't know how many of you'll may know of melasma,
but it's called the mask of pregnancy.
Why is it called the mask of pregnancies?
Because we see a lot of pregnant women
or women who are going through menopause
or women who are on the contraceptive pill
or any sort of hormonal medication
tend to get this pigmentation.
So where do we get this pigmentation?
We tend to get it on our cheeks,
a little bit on the nose and on the cheeks here.
So these are the typical areas.
But one can get it on the upper lip,
one can get it above the eyebrow,
one can get it on the jawline as well.
So this is a kind of pigmentation that
you really need to take care of.
Because a lot of it has got to do with your hormones,
and your genetics
which we can't go in and change.
But what we can change is our sun exposure.
So let's say, I have a tendency to get melasma,
but I don't take care of the sun, I don't put sunscreen,
during my pregnancy, I'm just out and about.
I don't take care of myself.
Then your tendency goes up that much of your fold.
So if you know there is a genetic tendency for melasma,
please start taking care before it appears
because prevention is much better
and much simpler
than trying to treat the melasma.
So in conclusion,
what I'd like to touch on
is don't just think your clinic treatments
are the end all and the be all for your skin.
Make sure
that you use good quality home care
and you take care of the sun.
So stay tuned and stay Glamrs.