Melasma Treatment: Do You Really Need 50 Sessions?

Hello. I’m Director Kang In-jeong of The River Dermatology.

This is the first post I’m writing for the new year, haha.

Maybe because the weather has gotten much colder, there seem to have been more cases recently where patients who made appointments have had to reschedule because of a cold.

(Everyone, please be careful not to catch a cold.. ㅠ_ㅠ)

It is a season with changing weather, so it isn’t easy to take care of your skin, but it also seems that more and more clients are asking about and consulting on various procedures during this time of year.

Today, I’d like to briefly share our thoughts on the questions that people visiting for melasma ask most often in the consultation room.

In fact, although there is now a lot of information about skin through the internet and social media, it often seems that, during consultations, confusion has only increased.

In particular, melasma treatment takes time before patients can get results they are satisfied with.

But there is no standard that says melasma must be treated 50 times for it all to disappear. (Absolutely not ㅠㅠ)

Melasma is not a simple pigmentation disorder, but rather a chronic condition in which the environment for melanin production inside the skin and inflammatory responses are closely intertwined.

Melasma treatment requires a process of watching how the skin reacts, minimizing irritation, and gradually stabilizing the skin tone.

In some cases, repeated treatments at short intervals can actually make melasma darker, so adjusting the direction and pace of treatment may be more important than the number of sessions.

Melasma treatment is not a race against time, but more like a marathon in which you maintain your skin’s condition along the way.

(That’s why I tell my patients to think of it as PT for the skin.. haha)

Patients also tend to search a lot about melasma treatment, hear stories from people around them, and visit different clinics,

and they sometimes say,

“Can’t we just use a strong laser that gets rid of everything at once?”

(I’m not sure where you heard that.. but if there were a laser that could do that for sure, I would really want to provide it too ㅜ_ㅜ;)

Melasma treatment strategies vary depending on

how deep the pigment is, skin thickness, the degree of inflammatory response, and lifestyle habits and sun exposure,

so

in the end, I think the most important thing in melasma treatment is having medical staff who can accurately read the patient’s skin condition.

Lastly, if you are considering melasma treatment,

rather than asking, ‘How quickly can it be removed?’, please take one more moment to think about whether the treatment is moving in a direction that suits your skin,

and then make your decision.

Since I’m not very used to writing, I’m not sure whether the information I wanted to convey came across well, but I’ll continue to share updates like this from time to time through my posts. Thank you.