Dark pigmentation patches on face - had since pregnancy

[cheekychopsmum]

When I was pregnant (over 18 months ago) I developed several dark patches on my face. one in the centre of forehead and one on each cheek. They came after being out in the sun and when I mentioned it to the midwife at the time she said it was quite normal due to hormones and will disappear after the birth.

Unfortunatley they have not faded, and in fact have got darker when the sun comes out. I daily wear a spf of 15 in my moisturiser, and when I go in the sun I've worn my babies 50 sun tan lotion and this hasn't helped.

Has anyone experienced this? and if so does it fade and is there anything more I can do to help it? Should I get it checked by the doctor?

I should say I have olive coloured skin, dark hair and tan very easily.

Exactly the same as you, mine hasn't faded either I'm afraid. I wear factor 50 sun cream. La roche posay anthelios xl cream is the best I've used Imho. Sorry.

Jooseyfruit have you concidered doing anything about it ie talking to your doctor to find out if there is anything that can be done?

It is really obvious on my face and it looks permantely dirty.

I have them too. Infact I had a couple pre preg as have always had dodgy hormones.

Mine are spreading year on year, despite the 15 spf that I wear all winter and 40 that I wear in summer.

mine are fairly symmetrical, either side of my forhead and along both cheekbones - like groups of large irregularly shaped freckles rather than one big blotch currently. My DD says I look like a Rothchild's giraffe, as she is an extreme animal lover I'm taking it as a compliment.

I talked to my endocrinologist about them 18mths ago, he just gave me some more blood tests to check hormones. My DC are 9 and nearly 5 btw.

I did mention it to my dr, and she basically said it would never go away completely. I'm kind of used to it now, although was very upset at first. I know what you mean by the dirty face look! Mine is on my cheeks and top lip, so I look like I have a Mexican bandit moustache! Attractive, non?

me too ;(

i have bought a night cream that is meant to fade these areas? it stings slightly when you put it on so prob not best for larger areas?

Mine is getting worse on my top lip, where (due to odd hormone disorder) I am getting a little fuzzy.

Apparently facial hair bleach, as I was using, can make the pigment worse - particularly if you go out in sun soon after.

I now wax my moustache off to help lessen the mexican bandit look!

On the upside, a quick puff of bronzing powder and I just look super suntanned.

that's interesting about the bleach.

I've just recently started waxing mine, although I did have a rather nasty incident where I ripped off the top layer of skin with a veet strip, and sported an attractive scab on my top lip for a few days!

I now splash out a fiver to get it done professionally!

I am just realising that I have this too
tiny bit with ds1 and 2 but since ds3, i have quite a bit on the right side of my face

someone suggested bio oil - i am going to try this and if it doesnt work, I think I will mention it to my doc the next time i am there

I've used bio oil nearly every day, and it's not made any difference, but I do have soft skin!

Can anyone recommend something else?

I am currently pg and have the 'dirty' pigmentation come up on the back of my neck since the sun has come out. Like lots of you, I use factor 50 sun cream so its not a tan mark. It really does look like I have a grubby neck, or I have dyed my hair brown and have vague dye marks there .

I will keep my fingers crossed that it goes.

I do have a cream that i use twice daily and got from my beauty therapist ~(where i had microdermabrasion to get rid of the acne scars caused by pregnancy) however after the acne scars had gone, i could clearly see my enormous brown splogy bits. the cream takes 2 months before it starts to work, i've been using it for 6 weeks no and can notice a slight improvement. It is specifically to even out skin tone, it is not a bleach. Sorry but after all that waffle dd is asleep in the room where the cream is and i won't be able to post the name of it on here until tomorrow night

I will come back and tell you though.

I have this, i have a patch in a v on my forehead to between my eyebrows, and almost like a goatee It is noticable to me and i would like to get rid of it!

I'm back

this is what I use skin brightening complex

it really is great, it makes my skin look really bright all day (before this I used to use number 7 radiance stuff under my makeup)

Yes it is pricey, but after 6 weeks I have used less than a third of the bottle, using 2 squirts twice daily

I asked DH if he can notice any difference, he says my skin looks much nicer, shinier and he can hardly notice my pigmented moustache

HTH

Was going to post about this myself...anybody find anything that covers it up well? Am very tired of looking like I have a moustache.
Are the products that say they make it disappear safe in pregnancy?

I have this too and it's very comforting to know I'm not the only one, especially with the bloody pigment tash!!!
I got it on holiday not whilst pregnant and the doc said it had something to do with the pill I was on (Yasmin FWIW).
I always use sun factor on my face so was most miffed to get it, it gets worse in the sun.
I've tried Bio-oil, dermalogica day and night bright cream and none if it has made a difference.
Am very recently pregnant with my first so hope it doesn't get worse.
ps has anyone else got it on the corner of their eye? When it first appeared it looked like one of those Mexican girl gang tear drop tattoos, fortunately it has faded a bit over the past few years.
If anyone has any lotions/potions that work I'd love to know about it.

I've got them too but mine are like big freckles rather than dirty patches. I feel old and liver spotted.

I tried Boots Protect and ?something? beauty Serum after someone on here recommended it but it didn't work for me.

Recently I went to see a dermatolagist (sp?) as i had tried loads of creams to no avail. He is going to freeze them off (ekk!) i think but advised me to wait until September as i will get a better result as the sun is weaker.

I always wear face cream with a SPF 15 but he has told me to increase it to 50! Does anybody know of a nice strong SPF cream as my skin is quite sensitive. i think it would protest if i used sun cream every day.

Salvadory - i've just got one above my eye just between the eyebrow and eye lid. it looks like smudged eye shadow. grrr! don't think the doc is gonna be able to do anything about that one as the skin is so thin.

Vulgar - my mum has a strong sun cream that she bought from a health food shop, as she had chemo last year and didn't want to use anything too chemically. I don't know the name of it offhand, but it was definitely herbal, so if you tried Holland & Barrett or somewhere similar they might be able to help?

I'll try that. thanks JRocks hope your mum is better.

Yep, I've got it too and my youngest dc is 9.

I've got a splodgy mark on my forehead (my mum thought it was a dirty mark and advanced upon me with a wet hanky. )

I've also got one on my upper lip, but only on one side. So I've got a one-sided moustache effect. Very attractive.

Currently trying out "Lighten & Brighten Age Spot Corrector" by No7. Fingers crossed that it will fade a bit.

Thanks - she's really good, just being cautious

Ooooh, oooh, this is me, though it was a reaction to sun/waxing, not being pg.

It suddenly appeared after a day spent in the sun which I never normally do, in combination with an upper lip wax. I was abroad for a wedding, and suddenly noticed in the hotel mirror that I had what looked like a grey moustache - just the thing to make you feel attractive before a wedding!

This is what I do to cover, and it has a good effect:
YSL Touche eclat, covered with light dusting of mineral powder. I use Laura Mercier but there are all kinds of others and probably cheaper. I also now use a layer of Clinique City Block SPF 40 under both of those if I am going to be in the sun.

To treat - I have been using rosehip seed oil from Neals Yard. A tiny drop on the area every night.

It's been a year and it's looking, I would say, 50 % better. Not gone. But better.

And with the makeup it's only visible if I peer at myself very closely in mirror - which of course I do, because I'm still so paranoid about it!

Hope this helps!

I just always think everyone is staring at me wondering why I don't wax...IT ISN@T HAIR! Am sure it is much more noticeable to me than others. Hoping they will see my bump and understand.