Along with aging and acne concerns, uneven pigmentation is one of the most common complaints skin care professionals hear in the treatment room. Changes in skin pigmentation can occur due to many different factors and can be the most difficult issue to tackle in the treatment room. Perhaps one of the most challenging pigmentary conditions to treat is melasma, a common disorder of hyperpigmentation that affects more than five million Americans.1 Melasma predominantly affects women with Fitzpatrick phototypes III through VI, or those with ancestry stemming from equatorial regions where ultraviolet radiation (UVR) is highest. Although sun exposure and hormones are closely associated with triggering, much remains to be understood about the origin and development of the disorder.

The sun has an eternal allure for humans. Exposure to sunlight chemically changes our brain chemistry for the better, as a winter in Sweden or Seattle will demonstrate. And basking even for a few moments gives us a profound feeling of well-being through a boost in endorphins. It would seem like a foregone conclusion that we need to protect our skin from ultraviolet (UV), every day, winter and summer, rain or shine. But the fact is most people do not. The incidence of skin cancer is up, not down, despite decades of public service information about the risks of UV radiation.

Today, vitamins and supplements are a multi-billion dollar industry, but few people have even heard of vitamin H. The 'H' in vitamin H comes from the German words "Haar und Haut" which mean "hair and skin." Long known for its benefits to hair and skin, it is no surprise that it has been referred to as the 'beauty vitamin." Otherwise known as biotin, vitamin B7 or coenzyme R, vitamin H is a water-soluble B-complex vitamin whose benefits go more than skin deep.
Since it is relatively rare to be deficient in this vitamin, scientists discovered the importance of biotin rather by accident.

All men are created equal. While this may ring true in the political realm of society, it is far from true when it comes to the physiology and care of men’s skin. Men, just like women, deal with issues like aging, pigmentation, sensitivity, and acne. However, just as there are keen differences between the skin conditions of men and women, every man’s skin is as unique as his fingerprint. His skin health is shaped not only by his genes, but also by his lifestyle choices. A 20-year-old surfer’s skin is different than a 50-year-old businessman’s skin- and will require different targeted products.

About one hundred years ago humans doubled their life expectancy. This was a monumental feat, given that the number of years the average person was expected to live was a relatively constant number throughout most of human history. Nutrition, modern medicine and technology were mostly responsible for this dramatic change. In 2007, average life expectancy was 80.4 years for women, and 75.3 years for men.¹ This gap may be narrowing, but one thing is clear – there is virtually a new population in the human experience, and women are the chief contributors.