The role of blood vessels in melasma (chloasma, pregnancy mask): therapeutical implications

• Melasma (Chloasma, Pregnancy Mask) is a common pigmentary condition and although it occurs more often in females and that hormonal factors may play a role, it is still incompletely understood.

• Clinically: In the lesions, telangiectasia (dilated broken blood vessels), tend to be present and melasma lesions have more vascularization when compared with the perilesional skin.

• The presentation also highlights that lesions have more erythema (colorimeter analysis) and that the quantity of melanin and erythema show a positive correlation.

• Measurement of erythema in melasma could therefore give an indication of the severity of the disease.

• Also treatment can be targeted on this vascular component such as with the pulsed-dye laser and oral tranexamic acid.

• For better understanding of the pathogenesis of melasma, the cutaneous role of blood vessels on melanogenesis could be studied.

Contributors

Dr Christophe Hsu – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland

Source of information: 2014 (09) – ASPCR John Pawelek Lecture. Vascular Characteristics of Melasma and Therapeutic Implications
. H.Y. Kang. International Pigment Cell Conference (IPCC). Singapore