Stress and Melasma - if you freak out - so does your skin!

A few years ago - when we were trying to identify the true root cause of melasma (melasma on the upper lip or pesky skin hyperpigmentation) one of the melasma cure team reported that they had had a very stressful holiday with family they had not seen for years and for some reason their skin had 'broken out' in even more prominent and pronounced melasma (well to be more specific their melasma had darkened - particularly on their upper lip). This is the worse thing that you can imagine for the melasma victim who basically spends alot of their spare time looking for a melasma cure, melasma treatment or melasma 'miracle' that will erase the awful skin discolouration away for GOOD. What the? this left us stunned at what could possibly be the reason for this sudden outbreak of melasma? 

Several suggestions were offered up as to the reason for this melasma onslaught. Was it because they were out of their usual routine and their diet had changed thus triggering some kind of response? perhaps they had indulged in melasma triggering foods (like too much coffee or alcohol)? perhaps they had also neglected their skin care routine (i.e. forgot to apply their nightly skin care and cleanse their skin properly?). Another possibility was that the holiday was an opportunity to spend more time in the sun and therefore the natural outcome is sun burn and of course - melasma always darkens in the sun.

We asked the poor melasma suffer if these reasons could d possibly be to blame... and what did she say? NO..... none of the explanations offered were deemed possible. She had been particularly cautious with sun block while on holiday and had also been extremely vigilant with her diet AND even ensured she tool extra skin care supplements with her to ensure that she did not jeopardise her melasma skin care regimen. So... what was the cause of the sudden darkening?

We concluded the casual factor was stress. Correct - stress had caused a sudden release of stress hormones into her system which had sparked of a chain of changes in her body which triggered melasma. Luckily we understand this process now and know exactly how to deal with it.

Take home lesson? If you suffer melasma never let yourself get stressed out. It can only make your condition worse - and is not good for your health. Stress and immunity are strongly linked - do yourself a favour. Take up meditation!