I know nothing about Melasma but the link to progesterone/estrogen is intriguing. Although I can’t say I’ve noticed any on my skin, has anybody on here?
Is it caused specifically in relation to the estrogen to progesterone balance, or by the absolute level of each?
Quick scan of google throws up this anecdotal account by a woman, interestingly she state she was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. (again, progesterone is a component of adrenal synthesis)
healthylivinghowto.com/1/post/20 … lasma.html
"How Adrenal Fatigue and Melasma is Related
Stress of any kind causes an adaptive response from the body. The stress response begins in the brain in the hypothalmus. The hypothalmus sends a signal to the pituitary gland to secrete adreno-corticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol. The adrenals convert cholesterol into pregnenolone which is the building block for both sex hormones and cortisol. When the body is under chronic stress, such as during adrenal fatigue, the body uses pregnenolone to produce more cortisol, limiting what’s available for producing sex hormones. In a female, the result can be low testosterone (reduction in sex drive) and low progesterone which throws off the balance of estrogen. And, here is the connection to melasma; elevated estrogen (or estrogen not balanced by progesterone) increases MSH and as we learned above, this causes an increase in skin darkening or melasma."
I’ve requested the full study so will have a scan through later to see exactly what the findings are. Hope it’s not just a speculative observation and there is some real data behind it.