help! 'moustache' of dark skin (rather than hair) - any ideas what it is and how to fix it?

[mrsravelstein]

well this is charming - about a week ago i noticed that i have suddenly developed a line of greyish skin above my lip... at first i thought it was dark hair, but it's definitely the skin pigment that's changed. it looks spectacularly attractive. i assume it's appeared so suddenly because of the sunny weather, but i have never had anything like this before.

anybody had this and if so will it go away? is there anything i can put on it which might lighten the skin back to its normal colour?

are you pregnant?

that's supposed to happen in pregnancy. and you shouldn't touvh it cos it'll fade afterwards.

if not, i'm sure someone else will come along and have a solution

Oh bugger, my comisserations.

Get yourself an SPF 50 face block ASAP, for a start, but you may already do that, or have done that.

Get yourself to a salon or clinic that does IPL (intense pulsed light) and see if you can have it lasered off. It might not be dark enough.

Failing that, get some of the SkinCeuticals skin lightening product This bad boy and if that doesn't work, I'll tell you a product that does, but you can't get it in the UK as the substance is banned

Oh yes of course if you are pregnant then its called the moustache mask of pregnancy.

In which case you can't have IPL and the like anyway.

Generally they fade after but not always.

But if you are not up the stick then you need action stations.

nope, not pregnant, youngest dc is 18 months old so i don't think it can be hormonal (unless i'm menopausal or something, eek)

tatty thank you, i will look into all of those... i still cannot quite believe it, i resemble dick dastardly which is not at all the look i strive for

Ah gawd.

I do sympathise, its blimmin hard to cover these things with makeup too. I have a dark patch on the lower side of my face, its pretty feint actually, they said its not dark enough to laser, and its gradually going with this cream I have but I hate it, probably nobody else notices it but it looks a little grubby on one side. I'm lucky about the location really, if it were above my lip or near my eye or something or god forbid right under my eye etc then I'd be majorly fecked off.

is the cream making it fade evenly? my only worry is if i get the cream on it but then end up with some lighter and some darker patches, is it going to be even more noticeable... have tried covering with make up but is v difficult as you say, because of being under my nose it's looks very odd with any concealer/foundation on it...

i'm going out on a corporate shebang next week with dh's new work, and i am at the point of feeling like i can't go cos they are going to wonder what he sees in the bearded lady. maybe i will wear a very large hat.

There's a good chance its not as noticeable as you think, without meaning to sound trite or patronising, though.

Its fading evenly, I think you probably have nothing to lose by the sound of it.

Are you otherwise pale? If it is quite dark and your skin is quite pale, IPL is your best bet. They will zap it, it will crust over (yes, a couple of weeks of looking slightly worse) then it will fall off.

Are you on the pill or other hormone based contraceptive? This can cause melasma too (the medical name for "pregnancy mask").

You might find a good concealer helpful whilst using a fading product. One with a pinkish or peachy tone works best as a yellow based one can make it look more grey or ashy.

tatty thank you so much for advice - i will order the stuff you linked to and find out about IPL. yes i am generally quite pale skinned though as i say it seems to have suddenly shown up as i got a bit of colour from the sun recently.

kittens, no not on the pill and nothing hormonally different... although i had been either pregnant or breastfeeding for 4 years on the trot and as of 3 months ago i am neither, so perhaps it's just my body settling down?

good idea on pink concealer, my foundation is a yellowy shade so perhaps that is making it worse, it's definitely 'ashy'