Inside our #SOSSkin Clinic: Taking on pigmentation

Watch our tester try to reduce her sun spots…

Words by Madeleine Spencer This week in our #SOSSkin Clinic, our tester Michaela is targeting the pigmentation blotches that are a result of her love of the sun.

Having spent every summer since her childhood lapping up the rays, Michaela noticed a few years ago that her usually-even tan looked slightly blotchy. Though the darker areas became less obvious over the winter, every time she’d go out in the sun they’d return - along with a few extra patches. As her skin was otherwise problem-free, Michaela found having to wear a foundation just to cover the pigmentation frustrating and hoped we might be able to point her in the right direction.

As Michaela told us that she’d also like to generally brighten her skin and soften her wrinkles as well as reducing the pigmentation, we paired her up with Ole Henriksen’s vitamin C-rich POWER Bright 3-Step Professional Brightening System, £40, exclusive to John Lewis, with a supporting regime comprising The Truth range. All the products contain vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant that we hoped would lift the pigmentation and brighten her skin while also reducing the depth of her lines.

Watch the video to see the results, and make sure you stick to the below rules if you suffer from pigmentation:

The Beauty Desk’s 5 Rules To Busting Pigmentation:

1.  Block Out The Sun Applying an SPF daily will stop further pigmentation patches from forming and reduce the deepness of colour of existing dark spots.
2. … And Reduce Other Aggressors Inflammation of any kind can lead to pigmentation, so don’t pick spots and use an exfoliant to help release ingrown hairs and thereby cause minimal damage to the surrounding skin.
3.  Exfoliate Ideally do so with a chemical exfoliant to will loosen the bonds between dead skin cells without aggravating the surface of the skin, but however you do it, you need to slough off the top layer of skin to lessen the appearance of pigmentation.
4. Apply Antioxidants These will neutralise scavenging free radicals that would otherwise damage cells, and help to boost collagen and elastin production.
5. Look For Melanin Inhibitors Skin gets its colour from melanin, with pigmentation being formed when too much is produced. Extracts like liquorice and hydroquinone slow the production and will therefore reduce the appearance of the pigmentation.