Pigmentation, dark spots, and what actually shifts.
Removal is the word nearly everyone types, and it is the first thing worth correcting. Pigment can often be made lighter. It is rarely removed, it comes back readily, and in some skin the more aggressive approaches leave it darker than it started. Which kind you have decides all of that — and working out which kind belongs to a doctor more often than to a clinic.
Nobody removes pigment.
“Pigmentation removal” is what gets searched, so it is worth being straight about early. Pigment is not a stain waiting to be lifted off the skin. It is made, continuously, by cells living in your skin that are still there after any treatment you could have.
What a treatment can do is reduce the pigment already made, or slow the rate at which more appears. It does not switch off the cells that make it, and it does not change what tells them to. That is why pigment that responded well can return within a summer.
The honest words are lighter and more even, across a range running from a marked difference to almost none. So the useful question is not what removes this. It is what kind is it, how deep does it sit, and what is still driving it.
Different things, one word.
People use one word for several unrelated things, which is fair enough — they all look like brown marks. They behave completely differently. Every description below is a general pattern, and none of it identifies what is on your face.
- Sun-driven marks
- Flat brown patches accumulated over years on the face, hands, chest and décolletage. This is what most people mean by dark spots, and it is generally the most responsive category, because much of it sits near the surface. It is also the likeliest to come back, because what caused it is outside every day.
- Marks left after a breakout
- Flat red, brown or grey-brown marks where a spot used to be. Not scars — the texture is unchanged. They usually fade on their own over months, sometimes over a year in deeper skin tones. Sun slows that fading, and picking deepens the mark left behind. This is the most common thing people pay to treat that was already resolving.
- The hormonal pattern — the word is melasma
- Larger symmetrical patches across the cheeks, forehead and upper lip, often appearing in pregnancy or alongside hormonal medication. Melasma is the word people find when they search this pattern, and it is a diagnosis. Identifying it is a doctor’s job, not ours. It matters more here than anywhere on this page, because this pattern recurs readily and most often worsens when treated aggressively. A GP first.
- Freckles and the tone you were born with
- Largely genetic, darkening with sun and fading in winter. Not a fault, not a condition, and not something this clinic will talk you into changing.
- Anything that has changed — not this page
- A mark that is new, growing, changing colour or shape, raised, itching, crusting or bleeding goes to a doctor before it goes anywhere near a skin clinic, including this one. We do not identify lesions, and we would rather lose the appointment than be the reason something was looked at late.
This is a description of patterns, not a test. Two of them commonly occur on the same face at once, which is one reason a photograph settles little.
Depth and sun decide almost everything.
Which treatment you choose matters far less than the marketing suggests. These matter more, and most are settled before anyone books anything.
- How deep it sits
- Pigment in the upper layers can be encouraged to shed, which is where most visible improvement comes from. Pigment sitting deeper responds far less — often barely at all — and the approaches forceful enough to reach it are the likeliest to inflame skin and make matters worse. Depth is not visible in a mirror, and most pigment is a mixture.
- Sun, every day, whether or not you notice it
- Daily sun protection outperforms every treatment on this page. No course of anything keeps up with pigment being re-made each week. Most of the exposure that counts is incidental — the drive, the walk to the car, the overcast day, the window beside your desk.
- Inflammation makes more pigment
- This is the most important line on the page. Skin prone to pigmenting responds to injury by producing more pigment — and a harsh peel, a hot device, an over-scrubbed face or three strong actives stacked at home all read as injury. In some skin, most consequentially in deeper tones, an aggressive approach leaves the marks darker than they started. Here, restraint is not caution. It is the technique.
- Time, and more of it than you expect
- Pigment changes over months rather than weeks, and gradually enough that you will not see it happening in your own bathroom mirror. Photographs taken at the start are the only sensible way to judge it.
- Whether something is still driving it
- Pregnancy and hormonal medication both influence pigment. Where there is an internal driver, working on the surface is working downstream of the cause, and your GP belongs in the conversation.
We do not have a laser.
Two of the most searched phrases about pigment are “laser pigmentation removal” and “laser treatment for pigmentation”, and the answer is short. For a good deal of pigment, a laser or IPL in trained hands is the right tool. Glow has neither.
If that is what your skin needs, the answer here is to go somewhere that has one. We will say so at the consultation rather than propose a course of something we do own. A peel course sold where light was the right answer is exactly the wasted money and wasted months this page exists to prevent.
The caution runs both ways, and this part is rarely said aloud. Light is not right for all pigment, and on the hormonal pattern it can make things worse. Wherever you go, ask which device they use, which kind of pigment they believe you have, how it behaves in your skin tone, and what they do if it darkens instead of lightening. A clinic that answers those four comfortably is the one to book.
Glow has no laser and no IPL, and will not substitute something else when one of them is the right answer.
What honestly helps.
In order of how much difference each makes — which is not the order most clinics present, because the first two cannot be sold to you.
- Sun protection, daily and unglamorously
- First, and by a distance. Every line below it works better on protected skin and poorly on unprotected skin. See sunscreen for what actually matters — how much you use and how often, far more than which bottle.
- Waiting, where waiting is the answer
- Marks left after a breakout are usually on their way out already. An assessment that says protect them from sun and leave them alone for three months is a legitimate outcome, and one of the more common things said here.
- Topicals that slow pigment production
- Vitamin C, niacinamide and the gentler acids, used consistently over months. The effect is modest and slow, and it is the base everything else sits on — see vitamin C. The strongest topicals for pigment are prescription creams a doctor prescribes, one more reason a GP is often the better first appointment.
- Clinical peels, at a depth chosen for your skin
- A course of clinical peels can reduce how visible surface pigment is. The depth is decided after your skin has been looked at, not chosen from a menu, and on pigment-prone skin it is usually gentler and slower than people expect. Where the hormonal pattern is involved, nothing is planned without a doctor in the picture.
What is not on that list: identifying what your pigment is, treating melasma, or promising an even tone. The first two belong to a doctor, and the third is not something skin does on request.
The consultation is $150 and runs ninety minutes. Where the honest plan is sunscreen, patience and a GP referral, that is what it will say.
Asked about pigmentation.
Answered the way they would be answered in the room.
How do you remove pigmentation from your face?
You generally do not remove it. Pigment is made by cells living in your skin, and no treatment switches those cells off — treatments reduce what has already been made, or slow how fast more appears. Surface pigment can be made considerably lighter, deeper pigment far less, and it returns readily with sun. That is why daily sun protection outperforms every treatment available. "Removal" is the search word, not the outcome.
Do you use laser for pigmentation?
No — Glow has no laser and no IPL. For a good deal of pigment a laser in trained hands is the right tool, and if that suits your skin, the honest answer is to go somewhere that has one. We will say so rather than sell you a course of something we do have. Light is not right for every kind of pigment either, so ask which device a clinic uses and which pigment they think you have.
Is laser the best treatment for pigmentation?
For some pigment it is very effective, and for other pigment a poor idea — the hormonal pattern in particular can worsen after light-based treatment, and it still gets treated that way. There is no single best treatment, because "pigmentation" describes several unrelated things. What decides it is which kind you have and how deep it sits, and that needs someone looking at your skin rather than a website.
What causes dark spots on the face?
Most commonly sun exposure accumulated over years, which is why they gather on the face, chest and backs of the hands. The next most frequent cause is inflammation — the flat marks left after a breakout. A third pattern is hormonal and appears as larger symmetrical patches. They look similar and behave very differently. Anything new, changing, raised or bleeding is a different matter and goes to a doctor first.
Do the dark marks left after a pimple go away?
Usually, on their own, over months — sometimes closer to a year in deeper skin tones. They are pigment rather than scarring, so the texture is unchanged and you cannot feel them. Sun slows the fading noticeably, and picking makes the mark left behind darker and longer-lasting. People frequently pay to treat marks that were resolving anyway, which is one of the more useful things an assessment prevents.
What is melasma?
It is the term people find when they search larger symmetrical patches of darker skin across the cheeks, forehead and upper lip, often first noticed in pregnancy or with hormonal medication. It is a diagnosis, and identifying it is a doctor's job rather than a clinic's — we will not tell you that is what you have. Generally: it recurs readily, sun and hormones both drive it, and aggressive treatment frequently makes it worse.
Do chemical peels work for pigmentation?
For surface pigment, a course of peels at an appropriate depth can reduce how visible it is. For pigment sitting deeper the answer is much weaker, and for the hormonal pattern nothing is planned without a doctor involved. Depth matters more than the number of sessions: on pigment-prone skin, too deep is not the faster route, it is the route that leaves things darker.
Can treatment make pigmentation worse?
Yes, and it is the most important thing to know before booking anything. Skin prone to pigmenting responds to injury by making more pigment, and a harsh peel, a hot device, over-exfoliating or several strong actives at once all count as injury. The risk is higher in deeper skin tones, which this industry also advises worst. It is why a sensible plan looks gentler and slower than people expect.
When should I see a doctor about a dark spot?
Before a skin clinic, if it is new, growing, changing shape or colour, raised, itching, crusting or bleeding, or if it simply looks different from everything else on you. A doctor first, too, if the pattern is symmetrical across the cheeks and forehead. We do not identify marks, and we would rather you lost a fortnight to a GP appointment than lost months in a treatment room.
Start with the thing that does the most.
If you read one more page, make it the sunscreen one. It is unexciting and it outperforms everything else here.
The variable that decides how pigment behaves — how much, how often, and why the number on the bottle matters less than either.
Vitamin CThe most-bought ingredient for uneven tone. What it does over months, and how to tell whether yours is still working.
Clinical peelsWhat a peel is, what depth means, and why gentler is usually the right call on skin that pigments easily.
Skin in pregnancyPigment change is the commonest skin complaint in pregnancy, and the answers differ — including what is set aside for the duration.