How to get fair skin?
Patient: hi doctor, my face, neck and arms(exposed parts) are darker than rest of my unexposed part of the body which are as fair as paper white. i used to play a lot during my childhood under the harsh sun and my parents didn't care about the damage made by the sun. in my family i am the only one who has dark complexion on my face and i feel total odd about that. when i was at class 4, i stayed in hostel for 1 year and during that period, i turned out really fair and i think that was due to that i didn't get exposed to outer atmosphere.Later on after leaving the hostel, my face get started darkening.n Now my question is that can i reverse the colour of my skin and make it like that of my body. i am 21 years old .My height is 5'7" and my weight is 69 kg. plz help i feel really odd.... Doctor: Hello,Thank you for posting on HCM.The darkening of skin of exposed areas is due to sun tanning.Generally, in my patients of sun tanning I would advise then to get series of microdermabrasion followed by chemical peeling. Microdermabrasion is a procedure that removes the superficial layers of skin and it is done with a help of machine. Then after a week or same day itself I would carry out another procedure called chemical peeling. Chemical peeling is again a similar procedure where superficial layers of skin is removed but here the effect is more profound and it stimulates new skin generation in much better way thus giving you more youthful and radiant skin.Several options are available in chemical peels like glycolic acid, salicyclic acid, TCA but my personal favorite is retinol peel or also known as Yellow peel.The rationale of combining these procedure is to get better and long lasting effects.I am sure 6-8 sessions will bring out a pretty gratifying results.At home the results can be maintained with antioxidant tablets once daily in morning(It can be safely taken for months together) and  night application of cream containing mixture of glycolic acid , arbutin and Kojic acid. In morning you can apply a good quality sunscreen with high SPF.Use a good quality facewash like Cetaphil cleansing lotion.Take plently of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet and indulge into regular exercise for healthy skin and body.Hope this was useful.Let me know if I can be of any more assistance.Thank you and take care,Dr Hardik PitrodaM.D Dermatology