Hormonal brown spots

Hormones play a role in skin pigmentation

Female hormones – oestrogen and progesterone – play a decisive role in skin pigmentation by stimulating melanin production.
Hormones are therefore one of the main causes of brown spots. They rarely act alone, for example the sun is an aggravating factor that contributes to the formation of hormonal brown spots. Other factors, such as age and pollution, are also involved.

Where do hormonal brown spots develop?

Hormonal brown spots generally appear on the face (forehead, nostrils, cheeks, upper lip, chin) and form a “mask”, also called chloasma or melasma.

Who is affected?

Many women see the effects that hormones have on their skin pigmentation daily:

• Pregnant women: what we commonly call a “pregnancy mask”, which affects up to 90% of pregnant women⁽¹⁾;
• Women taking hormonal contraceptives: sometimes called a “birth control mask”. Hyperpigmentation affects 1 in 3 women taking hormonal contraceptives;
• Women on hormone replacement therapy: these post-menopausal women are exposed to several hyperpigmentation factors at the same time, i.e. hormones, age and the sun.

My pill is giving me brown spots, what can I do?

When hormones begin to affect skin pigmentation, it’s a good idea to consult a gynecologist, to consider the possibility of changing your contraception. A lower dose pill or non-hormonal contraception (e.g. copper IUD) may be proposed to limit the “birth control mask” phenomenon.
On discontinuing the pill, the brown spots will gradually fade, although sometimes not completely and/or unsatisfactorily, resulting in use of dermo-cosmetics or dermatological treatments.

(1) Tyler KH. Physiological skin changes during pregnancy. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2015