Christine Matthesen: Advice for hyperpigmentation

Christine Matthesen offers her best advice if you experience hyperpigmentation from the summer sun and heat. Because it is in the dark winter months that you have the best conditions and opportunities to do something about it.

Hyperpigmentation requires that you proceed with reasonable tact and that you are persistent in your daily skin care routine over a longer period of time. It is not something that disappears from one day to the next. For the vast majority, it will be a combination of different ingredients and not just one single ingredient that will make the difference. There are several different aspects:

• You want to exfoliate the top layer of dead skin cells.
• You want to lighten the existing areas of hyperpigmentation.
• You want to limit melanin production in the skin so that you form fewer new spots while the existing spots do not darken.

You have most likely already heard about vitamin C and about niacinamide for lightening hyperpigmentation. But you can also look for tranexamic acid, azelaic acid, kojic acid and alpha arbutin in your products. For exfoliation, AHA in particular will be a really effective exfoliator - glycolic acid is the most potent and lactic acid and mandelic acid are a little milder. If you do not use retinol in your skin care, it is also a really effective ingredient in relation to hyperpigmentation.

But the most important thing is that you use sunscreen all year round, and get as little sun on your face as possible - especially when you start working on lightening the hyperpigmentation. During that period, your skin will be more exposed. Not least because the sun's rays will actually just go in and counteract all your hard work.