Hydroquinone (safe?) or IPL - sun damage freckles

[EezyOozy]

Hi,

Im fair and a little freckly anyway. Up until recently I wasn’t always that great at wearing SPF 50 on my face (although I do now - love Biore Watery essence).

On my forehead I have larger more prominent freckles. They are always present . I go for annual mole mapping these days and the specialist said that these are sun damage. I find them unflattering and a bit ageing.

can afford 1 treatment (“half a face”) of IPL but have also seen that Dermatica sell hydroquinone cream on prescription, which gets good reviews. I thought this was banned but maybe it’s been deemed safe? I’ve seen people recommend it on here.

my other query is which is more effective ? I would appreciate thoughts. The only thing putting me off IPL is the down time afterwards as I would struggle to take any time off work/life! But it’s only the top half of my forehead so could maybe cover somehow.

thank you.

Just watched Dr Dray vid on YouTube and she says hydroquinone safe topically for up to 16 weeks ….. so will probably do whatever is most effective !

It's prescription only, but not in the US, therefore there's always a bit of confusion about safety (and it's not safe during pregnancy/bf). The thing is, you can only use it for a few months (max 6 iirc) which a consumer in the US might not be aware of and continued use could result in other issues.

WRT which one is more effective, it's really difficult to say one or the other. Even when you see the most experienced dermatologist for it, there's no guarantees as it's difficult to predict which treatment your particular pigmentation will respond to.

I'd maybe try Dermatica for as many months as they will prescribe it (assuming you're not TTC/Bf and don't have overly sensitive skin as they tend to combine it with tretinoin for best results) and if that sees no improvement try IPL next and use those months you're using Dermatica to save up for extra IPL sessions in case it's needed?

Thanks @botemp yeah that seems a pretty good plan. Just read that IPL can need several treatments and I had only really budgeted for 1!

If you ask on here, someone will have a referral code for Dermatica that gets you a discount or the first month for free, I can't remember exactly.

Oh bigger I’ve just done it… but the first month seemed to be free (£2 odd delivery only). I’ll see how it goes and report back 🤞

Sounds like you've got the same offer, so nothing lost. Good luck, I hope it works out for you