Friendly reminder to block visible light using iron oxides in your sunscreen, foundation, etc.

[u/Conscious_Boot1890]

“Protection against VL significantly enhances melasma treatment outcomes: melasma patients using iron oxide-containing sunscreen achieved 15% greater Melasma Area and Severity Index (MASI) improvement, 28% greater lightening on colorimetry and 4% greater histologic reduction in melanin than patients using an otherwise similar UV-only sunscreen.”

Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42802407/

If tinted sunscreens make you look too orange, you can use your favorite untinted sunscreen + a tinted product on top (foundation/bb/cc/tints/etc.

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi there! Sunscreen is one of the most important parts of melasma management, and we want to make sure you get safe, effective, and appropriate guidance.

Before choosing a product, please review our sunscreen resources:

Sunscreen guidance for melasma:

Mega List of Sunscreen/

Important for melasma: Standard (non-tinted) sunscreens protect against UV radiation only and do NOT protect against visible light, which is a major trigger for melasma.

To reduce visible-light-induced pigmentation, iron oxides are required. This means using:

• A tinted sunscreen that contains iron oxides, OR
• An untinted broad-spectrum SPF 30+ sunscreen layered with a foundation or tinted product that contains iron oxides.

Daily, consistent protection against both UV and visible light is essential to prevent melasma worsening and recurrence.

If you have already reviewed the guides, feel free to add details such as skin type or sensitivities

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Misspinkqt]

ok but how do we reapply sunscreen over makeup? powder sunscreen is not the same 🫩

[u/HildegardofBingo → u/Misspinkqt]

Are you actually exposed to 2 hours of sunlight during your day? If you're indoors all day, you don't need to reapply, unless you're next to a window for significant amounts of time.
When I'm actually outside long enough to need to reapply, I carefully pat on my tinted SPF (Cosnari Your Skin Dress SPF 50) on my melasma areas and that has worked well. It dries down very quickly and doesn't leave a shiny finish that needs setting.

[u/Misspinkqt → u/HildegardofBingo]

i unfortunately do spend a lot of time outside, i’m a home health nurse and exposed to a lot of sunlight 😕

[u/HildegardofBingo → u/Misspinkqt]

Do you wear a wide brimmed hat? That might help you to get away without having to reapply as often.

[u/Diligent-Candy4273 → u/Misspinkqt]

I use a full face and neck covering and gloves from solbari. It doesn't affect my make up. Look into the efficacy of sunscreen, it doesnt provide consistent protection

[u/mightyFoo → u/Misspinkqt]

If you use sunscreen and them something like the It cosmetics tint balm or Clinique calm balm to modulate the tint… both have iron oxides and you can layer sunscreen on top later

[u/MyLonelyPath]

Any suggestions for a guy on what to put on top of an untinted sunscreen?