How safe is skin lightening?

How to lighten your skin quickly and safely

Everybody, regardless of age or ethnicity wants clear and even skin which is achievable with the right skin lightening product, but beautiful skin requires commitment, not a miracle. For most people, the challenge to achieve radiant skin begins with dark spots or hyperpigmentation caused by the accumulation of melanin. To deal with hyperpigmentation, skin lightening products are formulated to even out skin tone and restore the skin’s natural color before the hyperpigmentation sets in.

Which is preferable, skin lightening or skin whitening?

Unlike skin whitening (or skin bleaching), the goal of skin lightening is not to bleach your skin, which could have potentially dangerous side effects, but to fade out unwanted blemishes by inhibiting melanin, which gives your skin its color.  So, unless you actually want to involve a medical professional in your skincare treatment, then “skin whitening” is probably not what you’re looking for.

Various skin whitening process has its own side effects. For example, laser whitening may cause bruising, skin dryness, sensitivity to sunlight, tightness, swelling, scarring, skin infections, skin texture difference, pigmentation, skin redness, and irritation. While Deep chemical peel treatments can cause permanent damage such as hyperpigmentation (skin darkening) or hypopigmentation (skin lightening). if you undergo very aggressive treatments to whiten your skin, it can become rough and oozing, forming scabs all over.

Skin lightening actually does more than just help you achieve lighter skin, it also gives you a flawless-looking complexion.

What is hyperpigmentation?

Hyperpigmentation is a common skin condition that signifies the darkening of the skin. Dark patches form usually on places with frequent exposure to the sun, examples of such places are the face and hands. This darkening of the skin occurs when an excess of melanin, which is a brown pigment that gives our skin its color, forms deposits in our skin.

Although hyperpigmentation is quite harmless, many people are uncomfortable with the way it makes them look. Acne and other skin diseases can cause hyperpigmentation, leaving dark spots after the condition disappears. It is important to note that people who do not have acne can also be experience hyperpigmentation. In this case, they appear in the form of sunspots, dark spots, or age spots, and they’ve been brought on by too much sun exposure, hormones, and/or aging. Pregnancy and the use of birth control pills can also bring about the overproduction of melanin, due to hormonal changes.

Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation – or the darkening of certain spots on the skin, usually in areas where mosquito bites, scabs, or pimples used to be – can be one of the harder things to get rid of. “It’s probably my most common complaint, especially among young people,” says cosmetic surgeon Hooman Khorasani – chief of the division of dermatologic and cosmetic surgery at Mount Sinai. And while these hyperpigmented spots may fade over time, there is always the question of how to speed up the lightening process.

How to get rid of dark spots

No one likes dark marks on their complexion. You’ve probably heard words such as melasma and liver spots. Both refer to the same condition which is hyperpigmentation, though melasma spots are larger than the spots caused by sun damage.

Trying to lighten the appearance of these is long, tedious, and boring. Therefore,  every time you see someone with glowing skin, you wonder, how is does he/she achieve it?

Although you can’t snap your fingers and get rid of dark spots, there are steps you can take in your skincare routine to help diminish their appearance.

Skin lightening reduces pigmentation, brightens discoloration, eliminates imperfections, and evens out the complexion. It is important to note that this operation can be performed using simple skincare products and does not require any type of medical procedure.

Skin lightening products target specific areas of discoloration such as age spots and hyperpigmentation due to acne breakouts and bruises. Lightening creams work to reduce melanin pigmentation in a particular area of the skin.

In getting rid of your unwanted dark spots, we will recommend the use of skin lightening and dark spots advanced serum. This serum contains a select combination of the right natural ingredients, that will smoothen and even out discoloration. It repairs, balances, and protects the skin to assure youthful radiant skin, and interestingly enough, it works perfectly for all skin types.

I have perfect skin, why should I use skincare products?

People with even skin can also use this product to prevent hyperpigmentation in the future as it is far easier to prevent hyperpigmentation than to correct it once it is present in your skin. Another reason skin lightening is recommended for people with even skin is, sometimes hyperpigmentation lies beneath the surface of the skin and will emerge in later life.

Why skin lightening treatment serum?

Now you might start to enquire why we recommend the use of Dr. Elix Dark spots Skin lightening serum and not other prominent products that contain hydroquinone; which is the most common ingredient in skin lightening products for 50 years.

In the first place, what makes this ingredient so sought after is that it effectively decreases melanin in the skin. This makes it a powerful skin-lightening ingredient for people looking to lighten dark spots, freckles, acne scars, and more.

However, hydroquinone isn’t for everyone. It can irritate sensitive skin and may result in redness, itching or dryness. Research suggests that there may even be deadly side effects associated with the long-term use of synthetic hydroquinone. A potential side effect is an exogenous ochronosis, a skin disorder that could possibly cause blue and black spots on your skin, especially if you are of African descent.

Because of its toxicity and potential side effects, the European Community has banned its use in cosmetic products and has limited its availability to prescription.

In the United States, the FDA announced in 2006 that it could potentially cause cancer.

I think I find skin whitening more appealing

As mentioned previously, we do not recommend “skin whitening”, and believe that the brightening & lightening options mentioned above is far safer & more beneficial.

While it may seem appealing, and also the right thing to do, to go through a more intense skin whitening process. It is important to see the scary aspects of this process as well and to think deeply about if whitening is truly the process for you.

As said by Jane Elston, Your skin has a memory. It is expected your skin will show results the way it was treated today in ten, twenty, thirty years from now. So treat it kindly and with respect.

Many people want brighter, glowy even-toned skin, this is achievable if the right lightening cream is used.

Our recommended All natural premium skin lightening serum acts selectively and in perfect harmony with your skin, convenient to sensitive skin, not photosensitive not cytotoxic, and we recommend to use with it as a subtle beauty ritual part of our prodigious Prickly pear seed oil for its amazing skin benefits especially antioxidant and sun damage protecting, hydrating, balancing and many more. Check out our Prickly pear oil benefits article for more info, really it worth your interest.

Nature’s Finest Elixirs by Dr. Elix