Pigmentation

I had a Mary Kay makeup party last night for me and few friends (mostly because I needed some new micro-dermabrasion stuff and didn’t want to pay full price. I am so cheap and nasty sometimes!) and peering into a small, badly lit mirror for about a hour and a half made me realise something - I have really really bad blotches of pigmentation on my face. Oh, the horror!

It’s not quite as bad as it seems. With the makeup on you could only see some small marks under my eyes (the brown splash across my nose which looks a little like a bad sunglass tan.. it isn’t) and one on my forehead (which you can’t see in this picture, but now that I’ve noticed it, it show up reflected in shiny surfaces wherever I look). I instantly forked over for the mineral powder foundation that seems to cover it up well. I like this photo, because you can actually tell that I have a top lip. It’s drawn on, way higher than my real lipline, but it’s there!

The pigmentation is called melasma and is due to pregnancy hormones screwing around with my melanin levels. I have a splodge across my belly, just below my belly button from when I was pregnant with Kaidin. It’s quite strange, because there are well documented cases of people developing the linea nigra and having their aureole darken, but with both pregnancies that hasn’t happened to me. Just the blotches.

To get rid of them the Mary Kay lady suggested I get some hydroquinone product or skin whitener, but according to this article, it was fade after the birth. In the meantime, mineral foundation, here I come! the mark on my belly has faded a lot since I gave birth and was only faint to begin with. The marks on my face are quite dark and I’m trying not to be self conscious about them. Just another good reason to avoid the sun this spring and keep my lily white lack of tan.

Has anyone tried any hydroquinone lotion? I’ve had some people tell me it’s really bad for you, so I’m definitely not using it while I’m pregnant. Did anyone else develop pigmentation spots when they were pregnant? How long did they take to go away?