A number of years ago, I got a call from the producers of America’s Next Top Model. They asked if I could help out. They said that Tyra Banks had personally picked me to treat one of the models on the show with acne. They said that she was one of the contestants on the show and that her skin really needed help. They asked me if I would treat her and if I could clear her quickly. I love a challenge and I was happy to do it. The young hopeful’s name was Yaya and she had acne.She was a lovely and very motivated young woman. What I saw then and I see daily is that an acne patient with dark skin has more obstacles to overcome than a light skinned one. Both have the acne to clear. But a dark skinned individual has a second and sometimes more difficult task and that is the postinflammatory hyperpigmentation. Those are the brown marks that are left behind, or as some call them the stains. If left alone they can take months or sometimes years to go away. For many it looks as if you are still broken out, since the skin looks blemished and is not uniform in color. How do we treat this? We use bleach, retinols, peels, microdermabrasion, and lasers. When I tell my darker skin patients about lasers then often look at me in disbelief. Many think that the lasers will ruin their color or that lasers are not for darker skin types. That is why I wanted to write about this, to dispel this myth. It is true you have to have a color safe laser and you have to have a laser specialist that knows how to use a laser on darker skin types. In our office we pride ourselves on our ability to remove hair, brown spots, leg veins, acne scars, broken blood vessels on dark skin safely and effectively. Anything that we can do on light skin we can do on dark skin. If you are still concerned, you can have a test spot so that you can try it , to make certain that it doesn’t affect your skin color.
Tags: african-american, dark skin, dermatology, hyperpigmentation, laser, nyc, peels, retinols, skin bleach, tyra banks