Melasma Treatment

[lspab]

Hoping someone might know about this, given its apparent commonality among Thai ladies

 

My Thai girlfirend is regularly going to a dermatologist in Surat to get treatment for dark patches and spots (I'd call them freckles). Its not something that bothers me, but I can see how it bothers here.

Its not clear if this is due to melasma, which is something some ladies get after pregnancy, or sun exposure, or overuse of steroid-based whitening creams. I get 3 different versions. The treatment is a course of 3 sessions of laser treatment, some sort of cold cream and injections with transexemic acid. 3 sessions costs her 8000 Baht.

It took a while for me to figure out what medication was being used, as the doctor didn't tell her, and she didn't ask. Eventually, I got the brand name, and could see it was a legitimate treatment.

Today she went over for just the laser treatment, costing her 1500 Baht.  The doctor wanted her to heal for a month, but at the same time wants her to start a new course in 2 weeks time, otherwise all the previous treatment has been "useless". She has also been given a packet of transexemic acid pills to take.

So far the doc reports a 60% "improvement", which seems inline with the clinical studies I read. Yes, her skin does look better, but it was never something that bothered me. But what I think doesn't matter.

What I'm not sure of, and I can't get an answer from my girlfriend, is how many courses are needed, or is this something she has to do for years, costing her money she doesn't have.

I don't want her to waste her money or undergo unnecessary medical procedures. Is another course legit? If 60% effective firsttime, will a second course get to overall 96% effective?

Anyone have direct or indirect experience of this in Thailand?  I do send her money, but its really with the intention of helping her shop which is struggling a bit at the moment. I've said to her that its up to her how she spends that money. Not sure that helped. Am I being seen as "stingy" rather than actually just being concerned? She's now saying she'll do whatever I want, and being miserable with it, which is not what I meant.

 

 

 

[Faraday]

I don't have any experience of this being treated, but my ex-wife had an area on her face which concerned her.

When you posted that the clinic said she'd more treatment otherwise the last lot would be "useless", I saw that as a red flag. I may be incorrect, but that sounds as if it may well be just 'wallet extraction'

Anyway, I've posted one study that compares different laser treatments, which I hope gives you a better understanding of them.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5724305/#:~:text=Fractional 1550%2F1540 nm non,6 weeks before laser therapy.

[Faraday]

This is also quite interesting:

https://www.bad.org.uk/pils/melasma/

[lspab]

18 hours ago, Faraday said:

I don't have any experience of this being treated, but my ex-wife had an area on her face which concerned her.

When you posted that the clinic said she'd more treatment otherwise the last lot would be "useless", I saw that as a red flag. I may be incorrect, but that sounds as if it may well be just 'wallet extraction'

Anyway, I've posted one study that compares different laser treatments, which I hope gives you a better understanding of them.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5724305/#:~:text=Fractional 1550%2F1540 nm non,6 weeks before laser therapy.

Hmm, I thought that as well. But it does seem that when you have this hyperpigmentation, you are stuck with it. I see the attraction of the treatment; improvements are seen pretty quickly. I don't know if there are long term impacts of continued use of the medications, though from I see, they are claiming "high tolerance".

Its difficult, as it makes her happy, but doesn't fall into the camp of botox, augmentation and other such procedures.