Can you get rid of "outer melasma" and "inner melasma" with makeup? No, it’s Impossible!
Can you get rid of "outer melasma" and "inner melasma" with makeup? No, it’s Impossible!
  • 한정선 기자 (향장학 박사) (fk0824@k-health.com)
  • 승인 2020.05.12 10:26
  • 댓글 0
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During the short moment we neglected our skin while wearing a mask due to COVID-19, areas of dark pigment has shown up on our faces. This pigmentation is due to the irritating melasma that disappears in the winter but slowly appears whenever spring begins.

As was said by the saying, ‘send out your daughter-in-law to the spring sun and your own daughter to the autumn sun’, the spring sunlight that comes after the harsh winter cannot help but be the worst problem for the skin.

This is because, since there is high water content during the winter, the amount of ultraviolet rays that reach the surface is little. However from march, as the altitude of the sun rises, the amount of ultraviolet rays that shines on the surface rapidly increases.

Therefore, because there is a need to prevent pigmentation due to ultraviolet rays in the spring, there has been a massive release of a variety of whitening makeup products.

 

CARD 1. Outer Melasma VS Inner Melasma

Recently, a cosmetic company which has made use of home shopping, online shopping mall, famous bloggers, and YouTubers introduced the new terms, ‘outer melasma’ and ‘inner melasma’.

Through pictures, the company explicitly shows the state of pigment distribution of the skin surface and the inner skin.

The pictures of pigmentation even call forth feelings of fear in the consumers, making them want to immediately purchase cosmetic products.

However, is it really possible to get rid of outer and inner melasma with only cosmetic products?

 

CARD 2. There are no medical terms for outer melasma and inner melasma

In actuality, there are no medical terms for outer melasma and inner melasma.

The correct medical terms for melasma are categorized into epidermal melasma, dermal melasma, and mixed melasma depending on the skin layer in which the pigmentation occurs.

 

CARD 3. Epidermal Melasma VS Dermal Melasma VS Mixed Melasma

In the case of epidermal melasma, the melanin cells (the cells which show the color) are brown and are spread throughout the base layer of the epidermis (the lowest part of the epidermis touching the dermal layer) and the upper part of the base layer.

In the case of dermal melasma, the melanin cells are blue-gray and are distributed in the dermal layer. Pigmentation is particularly found around the blood vessels.

Mixed melasma is the combined form of epidermal and dermal melasma and is commonly found among South Koreans.

 

CARD 4. Melasma occurs at the base layer of the epidermis

Melasma is a type of hyperpigmentation and occurs when melanocytes that exist at the base layer of the epidermis form melanin.

It is generally found in women but its major causes are known as a genetic influence, exposure to ultraviolet rays, pregnancy, and hormonal changes.

 

CARD 5. Dermal melasma has a high recurrence rate and is hard to cure

Traditionally, for melasma treatment, the hydroquinone compound, which is a whitening agent for topical application, laser, medicine, and dermabrasion are applied as a combination treatment. In the case of dermal melasma, in particular, the recurrence rate is high and the treatment rate is low so it should be treated even more carefully.

This is because for melasma, although pigmentation is also a problem, diverse methods should be used to treat it because there is also a blood vessel problem underneath which cannot be ruled out. At the end of the day, melasma is clearly a skin disease that needs a doctor’s exact diagnosis and treatment techniques. Melasma, therefore, is not a problem that can be removed with makeup but a problem that needs to be cured with the help of an expert.

 

CARD 6. ’Melasma’ is clearly a medical term

Even when you look at the cosmetic advertisements that are being aired recently, outer melasma and inner melasma, which seem to refer to epidermal melasma and dermal melasma respectively, are unclear.

However, once the term ‘melasma’ is used on a cosmetic, Article 13 of the Cosmetics Act can be violated as the cosmetic can be wrongly seen as a medical product. Therefore, the term ‘melasma’ must be used with care.

In addition, the fact that there is an effect on inner melasma can be interpreted as having an effect on the ‘dermis’. Since this can violate the cosmetic act which defines cosmetic products as ‘products with minimal effect on the body,’ such advertisement can be said to cross over the legal boundary of cosmetics.

 

CARD 7. Excessive advertisements using clinical trial reports

Especially when you examine cosmetics claiming, 'certified by clinical trial to alleviate inner & outer melasma,’ they are marketing their effects by taking advantage of ‘clinical trial reports’.

Such advertisements claim that their products can produce improvements in facial skin pigmentation and melanin in the lower layer of dead skin cells through the ‘Dual Melasma Improvement Effect Evaluation Test’.

 

CARD 8. The term, dual melasma, does not exist

Here, the ambiguous term, ‘dual melasma’, is used without care, where the facial skin pigmentation indicates the outer melasma and melanin of a lower layer of dead skin cells indicates the inner melasma.

Aside from the outer melanin of the skin surface, until which layer of melanin does the unbounded expression of the lower layer of dead skin cells indicate? If considering from the field of cosmetics, the lower layer of dead skin cells would mean until the epidermal layer.

If that is the case, dual melasma, which is both outer and inner melasma, would only be the original epidermal melasma.

 

CARD 9. Melasma treating cosmetics which cause confusion

Furthermore, we cannot help but think that it is a marketing strategy to induce overspending as the clinical trial is not of a single product but of a combination of two types of products that goes easily over 200,000 won.

Therefore, people should be wary of such advertisements as confusion can be caused due to a usage of an ambiguous term in regards to cosmetics appearing to treat melasma and having medical effects.

 

CARD 10. The facial brightness after using

the cosmetic is simply due to the ‘Tyndall Effect’

Generally, the facial brightness and feeling of moisturization that come after using cosmetics is called the Tyndall effect. This effect is an illusion that results from the dead skin cell layer storing the moisture from the cosmetic product.

Hence, it is not the fact that the melasma was removed with the cosmetic but seems to be a temporary result of the Tyndall effect.

If the cosmetic product can treat melasma, it is not a cosmetic product but a medical product.

Let us not be further confused due to inaccurate marketing terms or even fall into the trap of overspending our money.


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