Hypopigmentation
You must have heard a lot about pigmentation and hyper pigmentation. But it is possible that you do not know anything much about hypopigmentation. While hyperpigmentation is due to the formation of excess melanin in the skin, hypopigmentation is due to the lack of melanin & therefore the loss of skin pigment. Anyone having hypo pigmentation will end up having lighter skin color. What is responsible for skin color is the melanin in the skin. When the melanin is damaged one way or the other, it can lead to hypopigmentation. The melanocytes responsible for producing melanin will be few in number and this will lead to the production of very little amount of melanin.
Melanocytes depend on a chemical referred to as tyrosine. Tyrosine is an essential amino acid in the human body. It is depended upon by melanocytes to produce melanin. In case there is depletion in the quantity of the amino acid, the ability of the melanocytes to produce melanin will also reduce and this will lead to smaller amount of melanin. This situation will lead to the formation of a lighter skin color, which is referred to as hypo pigmentation.
This actually has its own negative effect on the skin. Melanin protects the skin from the UV ray from the sun. Its defect will only lead to exposure of the skin to the UV ray and this will lead to lots of complications on the skin.
There are some medical therapies that can lead to this skin condition. One of them is laser treatment. Laser therapies make use of lights of different wavelengths. There are some wavelengths that can lead to hypopigmentation. This is why you need to ensure that the medical personnel performing any laser therapy on you is a real expert in the field.
While it is true that hypo pigmentation can be caused by exposure to some wavelengths of laser, it is also true that the skin condition can be treated using laser therapy. There are some other wavelengths of laser that can be used to correct the aberration caused by the earlier laser wavelength.
There are some skin conditions that are linked to hypopigmentation. Some of them include albinism, leprosy, leucism, vitiligo, phenylketonuria and several other skin conditions.
No one should ever attempt to treat hypopigmentation or any of the skin conditions associated with it at home. The best thing you can do when you notice them is to pay a visit to the hospital where experts can attend to you.
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