A routine for pigmentation: a depigmenting agent, tinted sunscreen and the ceiling of cosmetics

With pigmentation, sunscreen is not one more step in the routine: it is the treatment. And not just any sunscreen: visible light also pigments, and in melasma a sunscreen with iron oxide improved the melasma index 15% more than a UV-only one of the same factor. That is why this routine puts a tinted sunscreen first, a depigmenting agent at night and an antioxidant in the morning. It is the one our tool builds with the shop’s products in two budgets.

With one precondition no cream meets for you: knowing what kind of pigmentation it is. A pigmented lesion is diagnosed before it is treated, and melasma is a disease that comes back. If you tick diagnosed melasma in the questionnaire, the tool still gives you the pigmentation regimen — with daily sun protection first — and tells you what has to be said: that the treatment and the follow-up have to be in a doctor’s hands.

This page is one of the eight outputs of the skincare routine tool, which builds it from your answers in your browser. It sits inside the dermocosmetics guide, where the legal framework of what a cream can do is set out, and the general rule of order — lightest to densest, sunscreen last — is in what order to apply your skincare.

How this routine was built

The routine on this page was not written by a copywriter: it was calculated by the same engine the skincare routine tool uses, and it has been reviewed product by product by the two plastic surgeons who sign it. It works in four layers, in order of authority:

1. What the signatories set for each product — for which skin, in which range, at which step — with their wording on record.
2. The safety rules, read off the ingredients list (INCI), never off the advertising: whether a product contains a retinoid or an exfoliating acid is decided by its composition.
3. Each manufacturer’s official literature — the AllSkin Med brochure, the ZO Skin Health portfolio, the SkinCeuticals and mesoestetic data sheets — which sets the skin type, the timing and the method of use, and the current scientific evidence: published trials and reviews that say what each active really does, how long it takes to show and who it was measured in. When a product’s advertising and the literature disagree, the literature governs.
4. A heuristic that only makes a suggestion where none of the above applies, and it is shown as a suggestion.

The two ranges are set by price within each step, mixing brands: a €52 cleanser is expensive and a €52 serum is cheap. Neither range is made to look cheaper by leaving a step empty: if a product is missing for your skin, one is taken from the other range and we say so.

The routine step by step: mid range and high end

For combination skin with pigmentation as the priority, not pregnant, no surgery planned and for someone starting out with actives. Each product links to its page in the shop.

The essentials — cleansing, moisturising and sun protection, plus the treatment if your priority calls for it — come to €217 in the mid range and €489 in the high end; with every optional item, €511 and €1,211. The optional ones genuinely are: the routine works without them.

The engine’s notes on this routine:

• First cleanse, high end: The first step of the double cleanse (at night): it removes SPF and make-up; then the cleanser.
• Exfoliation, mid range: The physical exfoliant goes in the morning, after the cleanser and before the toner or the pads: that is the brand’s own protocol, and there is no need to repeat it at night. If the skin gets irritated, the exfoliant is the first thing to space out. With your skin type, 4 days a week.
• Exfoliation, high end: The physical exfoliant goes in the morning, after the cleanser and before the toner or the pads: that is the brand’s own protocol, and there is no need to repeat it at night. If the skin gets irritated, the exfoliant is the first thing to space out. With your skin type, 4 days a week.
• Antioxidant, mid range: It goes on before the moisturiser.
• Antioxidant, high end: Your moisturiser already contains antioxidants: this vitamin C is not essential, especially on oily skin. It goes on before the moisturiser.
• Morning extra, high end: After the Daily Power Defense.
• The nights without retinol, mid range: For the nights the retinol rests: never the same night.
• The nights without retinol, high end: For the nights the retinol rests: never the same night.
• Sun protection, mid range: Tinted: iron oxides absorb part of the visible light, which also pigments and which SPF alone does not cover (Castanedo-Cazares 2014, PMID 24313385). If you do not want it to add colour, Mineral Fluid SPF50 (€39) is an alternative with no covering pigment and €9 cheaper. With pigmentation, though, tinted is the better choice: it is what holds back the visible light. There are two shades: Beige for a light skin tone and Bronze for darker skin.
• Sun protection, high end: Tinted: iron oxides absorb part of the visible light, which also pigments and which SPF alone does not cover (Castanedo-Cazares 2014, PMID 24313385). If you do not want it to add colour, Sheer Fluid SPF50 (€78) is an alternative with no covering pigment. With pigmentation, though, tinted is the better choice: it is what holds back the visible light.
• Oral supplement, mid range: An oral supplement, only if your priority is pigmentation.
• Oral supplement, high end: An oral supplement, only if your priority is pigmentation.

What the tool flags for this profile:

• First retinoid: two nights a week for 2-4 weeks, then alternate nights. What decides the result is consistency, not concentration.

According to your skin type

The priority sets the treatment; the skin type changes the base. This is how the mid range works out for each skin:

Each skin type also has its own routine page, with both ranges in full: dry, combination, oily and sensitive skin. And if your priority is a different one: wrinkles and texture, spots and pores and redness.

What you do not need (and why)

• Two depigmenting agents at once. One at night; if there are two, they alternate nights.
• A powerful exfoliant. It makes worse what it is meant to fix when it inflames.
• An untinted sunscreen “because I do not like the shade”. Then, at the very least, one that covers visible light; the tool always offers you the pair and explains the difference.

When the routine is not enough

A cosmetic depigmenting agent lightens superficial pigmentation and slows it getting darker, with months of consistency and strict sun protection. It does not erase a deep lentigo or cure melasma. For that there is pulsed light, in-clinic peels and prescription treatments, each with its indication and its limit. We link to them below: it is the next step, not a failure of the routine.

The next step in the clinic for this priority, which the tool also names: IPL pulsed light package · 3 sessions, 3 Step Peel chemical peel package · 3 sessions, 40% glycolic peel package · 3 sessions. It is prescribed in the consulting room, with the skin in front of us.

Frequently asked questions

What cream removes pigmentation?

None “removes” it: they lighten it and stop it getting darker, over months and with sunscreen. What each depigmenting agent does and why none of them works without sun protection is in creams for facial pigmentation.

Why a tinted sunscreen?

Because visible light pigments and the SPF number does not measure it. The pigments that give the colour — iron oxides — are what absorb it. In a melasma trial, the sunscreen with iron oxide improved results 15% more than the UV-only one of the same factor.

Beige or bronze?

By your skin tone: beige for a light tone, bronze for darker skin. The tool asks and chooses; and if you do not want colour, it offers you the untinted alternative while telling you what you lose.

Can I use retinol if I have pigmentation?

Yes, and some of the routine’s depigmenting agents contain it. With the stepped schedule and without exfoliating on the same night. What is not a good idea is causing irritation: inflammation pigments.

How long does it take?

Months. The niacinamide trials measure at 12 weeks; the vitamin C ones at six months. Before that, what you notice is that it is not getting darker.

And if it is melasma?

Melasma is a disease that comes back. If you have been diagnosed with it, the tool still gives you the regimen, because daily sun protection and a well-chosen depigmenting agent do add up; what it does not do is replace a doctor, and the treatment and follow-up have to be theirs. What really works and when light is not the answer is in melasma: why it comes back.

Sources

• Castanedo-Cazares JP, Hernández-Blanco D, Carlos-Ortega B, et al. Near-visible light and UV photoprotection in the treatment of melasma: a double-blind randomized trial. Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine, 2014;30(1):35-42. PMID 24313385. — 68 patients with melasma, eight weeks, both groups on hydroquinone: the sunscreen that also covered visible light (iron oxide) improved the MASI index 15% more than the UV-only one of the same factor. It is why, with pigmentation, the tool puts the tinted sunscreen first.
• Hakozaki T, Minwalla L, Zhuang J, et al. The effect of niacinamide on reducing cutaneous pigmentation and suppression of melanosome transfer. British Journal of Dermatology, 2002;147(1):20-31. PMID 12100180. — Niacinamide inhibited melanosome transfer by 35-68% in co-culture, and in two clinical trials with 5% niacinamide it significantly reduced hyperpigmentation against the vehicle. It is the evidence behind the niacinamide several of the pigmentation routine’s products contain.
• Bissett DL, Oblong JE, Berge CA. Niacinamide: A B vitamin that improves aging facial skin appearance. Dermatologic Surgery, 2005;31(7 Pt 2):860-865. PMID 16029679. — Half-face trials with 5% niacinamide for 12 weeks: a reduction in fine lines, hyperpigmented marks, uneven redness and yellowing. ⚠️ Industry-run studies, with a set population and photographic measures: it is cited in support of the active, not of a product.
• Pinnell SR, Yang H, Omar M, et al. Topical L-ascorbic acid: percutaneous absorption studies. Dermatologic Surgery, 2001;27(2):137-142. PMID 11207686. — L-ascorbic acid only penetrates when formulated at a pH below 3.5, and absorption peaks at 20%; above that it does not increase. It is why a vitamin C is chosen by its form, its pH and its packaging, not by the number on the bottle, and why the anhydrous ones go on in a different order.
• Hughes MCB, Williams GM, Baker P, Green AC. Sunscreen and prevention of skin aging: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2013;158(11):781-790. PMID 23732711. — A 4.5-year randomised trial in 903 adults: skin ageing measured by microtopography was 24% lower in the daily sunscreen group than in the discretionary-use group. It is the only long-term randomised trial supporting a cosmetic against ageing, and that is why sun protection is the step no routine from this tool leaves out.
• Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic products. Consolidated text on EUR-Lex. — Article 2.1(a): a cosmetic is for “cleaning, perfuming, changing the appearance, protecting, keeping in good condition or correcting body odours”. No therapeutic action: that is why, when what you describe is a disease, the tool says so and refers you to a doctor — with severe acne it also stays on the safe base. Article 19.1(g): the ingredients list runs in decreasing order of weight above 1%, which is what makes an INCI readable.
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 655/2013 laying down common criteria for the justification of claims used in relation to cosmetic products. EUR-Lex. — Six criteria: legal compliance, truthfulness, evidential support, honesty, fairness and informed decision-making. It is the yardstick this tool measures what it says about each product against: what the manufacturer declares, with its source, and nothing more.

Book your consultation

If your skin or your situation does not quite fit this page — you have surgery planned, a recent scar, more than one thing worrying you — the skincare routine tool builds the routine from your answers in a minute, in your browser, without asking you for any details. And if you have questions or want to fine-tune it, write to us: the medical team will go through it with you, free and with no obligation.

Clinical confirmation by the surgeon

Dr Enrique Salmerón González

Specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Registration no. 46/4624077

Dr Elena García Vilariño

Specialist in Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery
Registration no. 46/4624503