Skin Pigmentation Disorders Health Article

Definition

Skin pigmentation disorders are conditions that cause the skin to appear lighter or darker than normal, or blotchy and discolored.

Description

People of all races have skin pigmentation disorders. Some disorders, like albinism (which affects one out of every 17,000 people) are rare. Others, such as age spots, are very common.

Skin pigmentation disorders occur because the body produces either too much or too little melanin, a pigment that creates hair, skin, and eye color. Melanin protects the body by absorbing ultraviolet light.

In hypopigmentation means the body does not produces enough melanin. Albinism, for example, is an inherited condition that causes a lack of pigment. So people with albinism typically have light skin, white or pale yellow hair, and light blue or gray eyes. Another condition called vitilgo, creates smooth, depigmented white spots on the skin. Vitilgo affects nearly 2% of the population, but it strikes people between 10 and 30 years old more often, and is more evident in people with darker skin.

In hyperpigmentation, the body produces too much melanin, causing skin to become darker than usual. Lichen simplex chronicus is a skin disorder with severe itching that causes thick, dark patches of skin to develop. Lamellar ichthyosis (fish scale disease) is an inherited disease that also is characterized by darkened, scaly, dry patches of skin.

Hyperpigmentation also occurs in melasma, a dark mask-like discoloration that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose. Melasma can occur during the end of pregnancy. People with the autoimmune disease (when immune cells, which attack invaders, become abnormally programed to kill self cells inside the body) systemic lupus also may develop a similar butterfly-shaped mask on their faces. In addition, many people have moles, freckles, age spots, and birthmarks, ranging from red or brown to bluish-black, covering various parts of their bodies.