Freckles and Melasma are Not the Same!
A borderline difference between melasma and freckles can create huge confusion.
Freckles are tanned spots developed on cheeks due to repeated sun exposure and genetics. In contrast, Melasma is a skin condition resulting in light to dark brown pigmentation on the skin.
With a few commonalities and nominal differences, it is easy to take one for another. In such cases, diagnosis becomes challenging which can lead to the wrong treatment.
This blog digs into Freckles vs Melasma discussion to find out the exact facts.
Freckles vs Melasma: A Short Discussion
Though both skin problems appear as same at first glance, they differ fundamentally. The argument in this section divulges to state the dissimilarities specifically.
We will begin with a short intro to, later on, explore different facets.
What Are Freckles?
Freckles are pigmented small spots on the skin occurring specifically due to sun exposure or genetic inclination. In general, freckles aren’t dangerous.
Usually, they emerge due to excessive production of melanin (a compound accountable for hair and skin color). It appears due to ultraviolet (UV) radiation stimulation.
The opinion about the skin problem differs from person to person. Nowadays, it has become a beauty trend. People adore someones who has natural freckles.
What Is Melasma?
Melasma is a common skin condition resulting in tan, brown, and patchy facial skin discoloration. In general, it develops in women during their reproductive years. Another name for the condition is chloasma (mask of pregnancy).
Usually, women between 20-50 years of age are affected by Melasma on their forehead, upper lip, upper cheeks, and chin. In other words, it has centralized to a certain location, i.e., central face, jawline, and cheekbones.
Moreover, the main cause behind melasma can be hormones affected by birth control pills, sun exposure, and internal hormone fluctuation due to pregnancy.
The condition is more likely to distress folks with darker or olive skin like Asian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern people. Melasma typically occurs in folk with a history of daily or recurrent sun exposure.
Freckles vs Melasma introduction expresses, in brief, the skin problems. Now, it is time to move ahead and find out what causes them in the first place. It would help adhere to the right prevention tips to keep them off.
What Causes Freckles and Melasma?
When it comes to skin problems, sun exposure is a primary culprit. Whether Melasma or Freckles, the fact is evident. Moreover, there can be other causing factors behind the skin condition.
Freckles are categorized as small brown spots on the skin. It can occur due to multiple reasons but primarily a combo of UV light and genetics receive the blame.
Sun exposure activates ultraviolet (UV) radiation stimulation. This leads to the condition developing on the skin.
Freckles don’t surface on everyone with pale skin. Folks with light-colored hair and eyes develop freckle easily than people with darker hair and skin color.
Furthermore, the amount of freckles depends on the sun exposure. In addition, if you have a genetic disposition, freckles are likely to worsen with sun exposure and get darker.
Related: 10 Pro ways to Protect/Prevent your Skin from Sun Tan
In contrast, melasma can occur due to multiple triggers. Sunlight, female hormones, and genetic predisposition are key determinants, whereas progesterone and estrogen can have major roles.
According to the latest understanding, it occurs due to an abrupt spike in female hormones along with sun exposure. The combination seems to elevate the pigmentation around the cheeks, forehead, and jawline.
What makes Freckles and Melasma distinct is the difference in the stimulus. The latter occurs predominantly due to the overproduction of female hormones, whereas the former occurs due to hereditary.
That’s not at all. Often the misunderstood skin problem differs in terms of symptoms as well. Exploring the symptoms of melasma and freckles can help distinguish the condition.
The Symptoms of Freckles and Melasma Vary
At first glance, one is likely to confuse melasma and freckles. They occur due to pigmentation, but the pigmentation in both cases follows a pattern.
What are the symptoms of freckles?
Freckles are categorized as small tanned spots on your skin. However, there are many other signs of freckles. They include:
- Appear flat round spots in clusters present over a larger area.
- Likely to show in the first 2 to 3 years.
- Present on sun-exposed skin like the face, chest, arms, hands, neck, and even back.
- Irregular or almost round well-defined edge.
- Its color differs as per your natural tone. Usually, freckles are Tan, brown, or red.
- The size is around 1–2 mm or larger.
- Freckles lighten or fade during the winter months, whereas during summer they get darker.
Usually, the freckles are not dangerous or cancerous developing in sun-exposed areas. Whatever the color of freckles, now it has turned into a beauty trend. People like to get fake freckles.
What are The Signs and Symptoms of Melasma?
Melasma is not the same as freckles. The signs of symptoms differentiate between the two skin pigmentations.
- Hyper-pigmented or discolored flat patches darker than natural skin color.
- Affects larger skin areas occurring on the upper lip, nose, chin, cheeks, and even ears.
- Rarely affects the neck and arms
- Melasma at the jawline is a sign of excessive sun damage due to sun exposure
- Worsens with sun exposure as the spots become darker
- Generally affects women
- Rarely occurs in men
- The size of melasma patches may be small as 0.5 cm to larger than 10 cm.
- Almost 1.5% and 33% of women experienced melasma during their reproductive years.
- It begins between 20 and 40 years of age.
Melasma is not harmful and it is evident from the symptoms. However, melasma is permanent to a certain extent, but it fades away with proper treatment.
Freckles vs Melasma symptoms signal diverse types of these skin problems. They do stand distinct from each other with contrasts in impact and trigger.
Different Types of Freckles and Melasma
There are two types of freckles leading to different symptoms as per the impact of sun exposure. In contrast, there are four types of melasma impacting the skin differently.
Here’s a comparison!
Freckles Are of Two Types
People of some descent are more likely to develop one of the two types of freckles. This includes
#1. Ephelides: The most common freckle type grows due to sunburns and sun exposure developing due to zero protection from UV rays.
It affects the back of the hands, upper body, and face in people with lighter hair color and skin tones. Ephelides develop mainly in Caucasian and Asian people.
#2. Solar Lentigines: The darker version of freckles advanced over 40 years. The reason involves aging, spots, sunspots, and even freckles.
Moreover, it is darker and doesn’t fade during winter. On the other hand, rare lentigines can occur due to specific rare genetic syndrome.
Both categories of freckles occur due to different triggers but seem similar. The skin condition develops because of immediate environmental triggers and genetic inheritance.
Melasma Are of Four Different Types
In contrast, melasma is of four types differentiated on the basis of how much it affects the skin.
- Epidermal Melasma: It occurs due to the overproduction of melanin in the superficial layers of skin.
- Dermal Melasma: It can be differentiated on the basis of melanophages, (human cells containing melanin) present in the dermis.
- The Mixed Type: This type of melasma includes both epidermal and dermal types.
- Unnamed Fourth Type: It occurs due to excess melanocytes mainly developing in dark-complexioned folks.
The above-mentioned types of melasma are categorized on the basis of the pattern of pigmentation. A dermatologist can diagnose the skin problem properly.
Thus, whether Freckles or Melasma, prefer a medical diagnosis. It provides a better understanding of what skin condition you suffer from. Nonetheless, observing a few details help comprehend whether it is melasma or freckles.
How to Differentiate Between Freckles vs Melasma
Both melasma and freckles are skin pigmentations, but they differ in various aspects. There are couples of information that goes into the clear distinction of melasma vs freckles.
- In terms of appearance, freckles are spots, somewhat round dots, either red or brown in color, whereas melasma is patchy causing surface pigmentation.
- Usually, freckles develop on both sides of the nose, neck, cheek, face, arms, shoulder, and body parts. In contrast, melasma occurs around facial features present on the cheeks, jawline, and forehead.
- The reason behind freckles is sun exposure and to a certain extent genetic inheritance. On the contrary, sun exposure, genetic predisposition, as well as female hormone are responsible for melasma.
- Freckles are likely to affect both genders, whereas melasma affects women and rarely occurs in men.
- Freckles can develop in early childhood while melasma advance after the 20s and maybe occur until 40 during the reproductive years of females.
Though the above share information help distinguishes the skin conditions, prefer medical examination. Particularly, the advice is applicable to folks going for dermatological treatments.
Evidently, melasma and freckles are not the same, but is there any concern? We will investigate this respect.
Melasma vs Freckles: Are There Any Concerns?
Skin problems are signs of higher skin sensitivity. This doesn’t imply in every situation, but in some cases, concerns are legit.
In general, freckles aren’t dangerous, but the skin requires extra concern. With proper skin protection, controlling it is possible.
Usually, freckles appear harmless, but its symptom is similar to some kinds of skin cancer. In case, the color of your skin changes, a medical examination becomes necessary.
It can be a sign of skin cancer or other concerning skin problem. Moreover, apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or more containing zinc oxide. It protects the skin from further damage by harmful UV radiation.
Melasma affects women of reproductive age and develops on their cheeks and forehead. In general, it occurs after pregnancy and even because of hormonal contraception.
Moreover, people with melasma are more probable to have thyroid problems. The condition doesn’t lessen life expectancy or cause any problems. However, it affects appearance, which may hinder confidence by putting mental stress.
Apart from the above-discussed factor, no other concerns exist concerning melasma or freckles. To get rid of the dermatological condition, applicable treatment and prevention can help.
Freckles and Melasma Treatments & Prevention Tips
With proper preventive measures limiting or even preventing freckles and melasma is possible. If the breakout is excessive, the right treatment can help eradicate the problem.
How to Prevent Freckles?
Protecting skin from UV rays exposure can prevent skin problems. Apply sunscreen of at least SPF 30 with zinc oxide on skin exposed to sun rays. Reapply it every 3 hours to minimize sun damage.
Indeed, the primary preventive measure limits the damage occurring due to harmful sun rays.
Freckle Treatment
There are various treatments available for freckles. Use over-the-counter cream or dermatological treatment as per the intensity of the skin condition.
Here are the best treatments for freckles
Over-the-counter products: AHA toners, phenol, trichloroacetic acid, and acid peels. Topical Toners and creams ointments to lighten freckles. Or, apply a retinoid cream to constrain the impact of UV radiation damage.
Dermatological Freckle Treatment: A chemical peel to eradicate damaged skin to open underlying unharmed skin. Laser therapy also lightens freckles by focusing water on the skin.
Cryosurgery is another technique to restrict and rescind unwanted skin cells to lessen freckles. Generally, laser and skin peeling therapy lead to scars.
So, a study evaluated the impact of intense pulse light on freckles. It has an almost 94.12% efficacy rate. this includes
- 46 patients (45.10%) above expectation
- 50 patients (49.02%) up to expectation
- 6 patients (5.88%) below the standard
Around 14.71% of adverse side effects include:
- 8 patients with temporary facial flushing
- 4 patients with mild edema
- 3 patients with a burning sensation.
The Treatment improved the appearance with comparatively fewer scars.
Preventing measures are necessary to keep off the skin condition. However, to get rid of freckles, dermatological procedures are best. Next, we need to look into Melasma for the same.
How to Prevent Melasma?
One of the major contributors to the derma problem is sun exposure. Cleaning skin properly and applying a high-yield sunscreen can prevent melasma to worsen due to further UV rays contact.
Furthermore, lessen sun exposure by wearing hats and sunglasses. Try not to go out during peak sun hours.
On top of that, using skin products with vitamins C and E and moisturizers can lessen or limit the damage. Certainly, the key is to clean the skin appropriately and apply moisturizer afterward.
Melasma Treatments
Two treatments of melasma are available. The first one is topical creams, lotions, and gels with different formulations. The second one is dermatological treatments involving laser and other approaches.
Here’re the best treatments for melasma
#1. Topical Ointment: Hydroquinone reduces the melanocytes to treat melasma making it the best treatment for the condition. Moreover, corticosteroids and tretinoin are other topical treatments for melasma.
Their anti-metabolic effect decline melanocyte functions to prevent melanin creation to reduce melasma. Retinol can also combat dermatological conditions. Often these creams are irritating on the skin and cannot be used in long term.
#2. Medical Procedures: Dermabrasion, microdermabrasion, light therapy, laser treatment, and chemical peel are dermatological treatments for the condition.
According to a study on various treatments of melasma, their effects vary depending on skin phototypes, genders, and ethnicities.
Researchers studied various aspects like pigmentation, photoprotection, vascularity, inflammation, and hormonal influences.
They also suggested developing an understanding of the pathogenesis of melasma would produce better treatment for the condition. The study concludes that combination therapies within or across treatment modalities may deliver better results as compared to monotherapies.
Melasma and freckles can look somewhat similar, but they are distinct skin conditions. Thus, they require specific treatments to remove the problem.
Nonetheless, sun exposure is a major reason behind the problems. So, try to minimize sun exposure or use strong protection against it.
Discussion and comparison on Freckles vs Melasma end here. Before we conclude this blog, here are some of the facts about freckles that you may find interesting.
Fascinating Facts Behind Freckles
Things have changed overnight for people with freckles. Something which didn’t have a good reputation a few years back is now considered beautiful.
Suddenly everyone wants freckles so much that there are legit ways to create fake freckles.
#1. You’ll not find a newborn with freckles. It gradually develops after 2-3 years after the skin comes into contact with the sun.
#2. Genetics is more likely to decide whether you’ll get freckles. If you are a redhead and a female, the chances increases.
#3. Freckles is a slang word that appeared in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: “A fewe freknes in his face y-spreynd.”
#4. If there is no sun, there would be no freckles. All you need is the variant of the MC1R gene and some UV rays to develop freckles.
#5. Freckles are temporary and generally fade during the winter.
#6. People are getting freckles tattoos in 2022.
Even though I love a freckled face, getting a tattoo would be a bit too much.
Both freckles and melasma can be overwhelming and if you’re seeking treatment, first know the difference then opt for remedies.
Conclusion
Freckles and melasma are common skin conditions related to pigmentation. Thus, it is obvious confuse the two.
Freckles are like spots affecting your facial area as per body fats occurring due to hereditary problems along with sun exposure. In contrast, melasma leads to patchy discoloration developing on your face mainly affecting women of reproductive ages.
Whether melasma or freckles, preventive measures can keep them off. Minimizing and avoiding sun exposure while protecting against it helps.
Moreover, in severe cases, take the assistance of medical professionals to get rid of it.
Hope the comparison of melasma vs freckles provided the necessary information! If any doubt persists, ask us in the comment section!
Also Read: 10 Winter Skin Care | Makeup & Beauty Tips | Hair Care Tips