Why Melasma Behaves Differently on Indian Skin
Melasma on Fitzpatrick Type IV and V skin, which covers most Indian women, sits deeper in the dermis than it does on lighter skin tones. A 2020 study published in the Indian Journal of Dermatology confirmed that Indian patients show a higher proportion of mixed-type and dermal melasma, which responds far more slowly to topical agents and rebounds faster after UV exposure. That depth matters because it changes which treatments work and which ones trigger post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation that looks identical to melasma but is actually a fresh injury layered on top of the original problem.
