What Is Hyperpigmentation & 10 Best Products To Treat It, From a Derm

What Ingredients Should People Focus on to Treat Their Hyperpigmentation?

There are plenty of ingredients that promise to brighten and clear up hyperpigmentation, but only a few of them are worth your time and money. “You really should focus on ingredients that target all three steps of the pathway,” Dr. Shah said. “The melanin [or pigment] goes from the melanocyte [through the tyrosinase enzyme] to a melanosome, which is like a little vesicle [or transport], and then it transfers it to the skin cells.” The thing is, lots of ingredients just focus on inhibiting the tyrosinase enzyme step, which won’t remove existing hyperpigmentation. 

Which ingredients target all three steps? “Choose a cocktail of ingredients that targets multiple steps in the pigment pathway. And so, that would be vitamin C, retinol, niacinamide, kojic acid, alpha-arbutin, and azelaic acid,” Dr. Shah said. If there’s a single ingredient that treats it all on its own, it’s retinol—and no alternative retinols, either, just pure retinoid.