8 Excellent Ingredients to Combat Invading Pigmentation on Menopausal Skin

“I’m still hot. It just comes in flashes.”

Menopause sucks! It’s depressing enough that I can’t get into my skinny jeans anymore, no matter how much I jump, wriggle, and kick my legs into them. But along with the weight gain are a multitude of other symptoms — irritability, hot flashes, unwanted facial hair, and chaos on my skin. Waah!

No wonder most women dread and worry so much about this time in their life.

During our reproductive years, the hormone estrogen helped keep our skin healthy and supple. As hormone levels plummet, our skin can exhibit increased dryness, age spots and pigmentation, loss of tone and elasticity, acne, increased sensitivity (likely to lead to rashes and irritations) and increased bruising. Oh, what fun!

All annoying conditions but for this article I want to focus on the menopausal skin issue I get the most question about… pigmentation. If you’ve spent time in the sun (and who hasn’t by age 50?), you’ll likely see age spots and other signs of sun-damage on your face, hands, neck, arms, or chest appearing at this time.

Let’s take a look at the different types of pigmentation caused by hormonal changes.

Melasma

Also known as “chloasma,” or the “pregnancy mask,” melasma is a common pigmentation disorder that causes brown or gray patches, primarily on the face, most often seen in pregnant and menopausal women. Hormonal birth control and Addison’s disease can cause the condition too. It has even been established that intense heat, with or without sun exposure, can create this type of pigmentation on the chin, nose, upper lip, cheeks, and forehead.

Age spots

Estrogen plays a part in the regulation of melanin, the pigment that gives our skin its color and protects it from the harmful rays of the sun. During menopause the decrease of estrogen that occurs can lead to decreased production of melanin. And with lowered melanin production, our skin can become more susceptible to sun damage such as age spots, also known as sunspots or liver spots.

Pigmentation can be very difficult to get rid of. But with a combination of the right ingredients, and sun…