How To Fade Dark Spots In Darker Skin Tones

AAD Welcome!

Diseases & conditions

• Acne
• Eczema
• Hair loss
• Psoriasis
• Rosacea
• Skin cancer
• A to Z diseases
• A to Z videos

• DIY acne treatment
• How dermatologists treat
• Skin care: Acne-prone skin
• Causes
• Is it really acne?

• Types & treatments
• Childhood eczema
• Adult eczema
• Insider secrets

• Types of hair loss
• Treatment for hair loss
• Causes of hair loss
• Hair care matters
• Insider secrets

• What is psoriasis
• Diagnosis & treatment
• Skin, hair & nail care
• Triggers
• Insider secrets

• What is rosacea
• Treatment
• Skin care & triggers
• Insider secrets

• Types and treatment
• Find skin cancer
• Prevent skin cancer
• Raise awareness
• Español

Featured

Atopic dermatitis: More FDA-approved treatments

Research breakthroughs are giving patients with atopic dermatitis/eczema more ways to treat this condition. See what a treatment plan may include.

Biosimilars: 14 FAQs

Find answers to questions patients ask about this newer treatment option, including, “What’s involved in switching from a biologic to a biosimilar?”

Everyday care

• Skin care basics
• Skin care secrets
• Injured skin
• Itchy skin
• Sun protection
• Hair & scalp care
• Nail care secrets

• Basic skin care
• Dry, oily skin
• Hair removal
• Tattoos and piercings

• Anti-aging skin care
• For your face
• For your skin routine
• Preventing skin problems

• Bites & stings
• Burns, cuts, & other wounds

• Itch relief
• Poison ivy, oak & sumac
• Rashes

• Shade, clothing, and sunscreen
• Sun damage and your skin
• Aprenda a proteger su piel del sol

• Your hair
• Your scalp

• Nail care basics
• Manicures & pedicures

Featured

How to trim your nails

Keep your nails looking their best with these tips from board-certified dermatologists.

Relieve uncontrollably itchy skin

Find out what may be causing the itch and what can bring relief.

Darker Skin Tones

• Skin care secrets
• Hair care
• Hair loss
• Diseases & Conditions

• Acne
• Dark spots
• Dry skin
• Light spots
• Razor bumps

• Caring for Black hair
• Weaves & extensions

• Central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia
• Frontal fibrosing alopecia
• Hair loss in Black women
• Hairstyles that pull can cause hair loss

• Acanthosis nigricans
• Acne keloidalis nuchae
• Hidradenitis suppurativa
• Keloid scars
• Lupus and your skin
• Sarcoidosis and your skin
• Skin cancer
• Vitiligo
• More diseases & conditions

Featured

Fade dark spots

Find out why dark spots appear and what can fade them.

Untreatable razor bumps or acne?

If you have what feels like razor bumps or acne on the back of your neck or scalp, you may have acne keloidalis nuchae. Find out what can help.

Cosmetic treatments

• Your safety
• Age spots & dark marks
• Cellulite & fat removal
• Hair removal
• Scars & stretch marks
• Wrinkles
• Younger-looking skin

Featured

Tattoo removal

Find out why laser tattoo removal outshines other methods for removing a tattoo.

Scar treatment

If you want to diminish a noticeable scar, know these 10 things before having laser treatment.

Public health programs

• Skin cancer awareness
• Free skin cancer checks
• Kids' camp
• Good Skin Knowledge
• Shade Structure grants
• Advocacy Action Center
• Pathways: Inclusivity in Dermatology
• Awareness campaigns
• Educational resources
• Get involved

• Lesson plans and activities
• Planes de lecciones y actividades
• Community grants

Featured

Free materials to help raise skin cancer awareness

Use these professionally produced infographics and videos to help others find and prevent skin cancer.

Dermatologist-approved lesson plans, activities you can use

Free to everyone, these materials teach young people about common skin conditions, which can prevent misunderstanding and bullying.

Find a dermatologist

• What is a dermatologist?
• FAAD: What it means
• How to select a dermatologist
• Your digital health
• Prior authorization
• Dermatologists team up to improve patient care

• Finding accurate health information
• Health apps
• Wearable medical devices
• Telemedicine
• Taking pictures of your skin
• Protect your information

Featured

Find a Dermatologist

You can search by location, condition, and procedure to find the dermatologist that’s right for you.

What is a dermatologist?

A dermatologist is a medical doctor who specializes in treating the skin, hair, and nails. Dermatologists care for people of all ages.

Facebook Twitter Instagram

1. Public
2. Everyday care
3. Skin care secrets
4. For your skin routine
5. How to fade dark spots in darker skin tones

Advertisement Advertisement How to fade dark spots in darker skin tones

Have you tried treating dark spots on your own without getting the results you want? Do you see new dark spots appear as others fade?

If you answered yes, you’re not alone. Darks spots and patches rank as one of the most common reasons that people who have darker skin tones see a dermatologist. The medical name for one cause of these dark spots is post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Some people just call it hyperpigmentation for short.

Before and after treatment for dark spots

His dermatologist used laser therapy and prescription-strength hydroquinone cream to even out his skin tone in 8 weeks.

Getting rid of hyperpigmentation begins with finding out why you get these dark spots or patches. If you can eliminate the cause, many spots will clear on their own and you can prevent new ones from appearing.

What causes hyperpigmentation?

People who have medium to dark skin tones get dark spots and patches because something triggers their skin to make extra melanin, the substance that gives skin its color. Many everyday things can trigger extra melanin in people who have darker skin tones.

Dark spots and patches often appear when:

• A pimple or patch of psoriasis clears.

• A wound caused by an insect bite, cut, burn, or other injury heals.

• You take (or apply) certain medications.

• A skin or hair care product irritates your skin.

• Hormonal changes occur, such as during pregnancy.

How do you treat hyperpigmentation in darker skin tones?

Treatment depends upon what’s causing your hyperpigmentation. The following explains the treatment for each cause:

A skin condition like acne, eczema, or psoriasis: To get rid of hyperpigmentation caused by a skin condition, you must effectively treat the skin condition first. When the breakouts or flare-ups stop, you get rid of what’s causing the hyperpigmentation.

Most dark spots will then fade on their own over time, but it may take a long time.

Skin injury: As the wound heals, you may see a dark spot or patch. In time, the hyperpigmentation will fade if you don’t re-injure your skin.

Skin care product: When a skin or hair care product irritates your skin, the product can cause dark spots on your skin.

If you're seeing dark spots, try using gentler products. They're less likely to irritate your skin.

Products that are gentle on the skin are often labeled "for sensitive skin." You may also see "fragrance-free" on the label.

When your skin is no longer irritated, new dark spots tend to stop appearing and existing spots often clear on their own over time.

Some medications can cause dark spots

Don’t stop taking medication, even if you think it’s causing dark spots on your skin. That could make you very sick. Ask the doctor who prescribed the medication if discolored skin is a possible side effect. If it is, ask if you could switch to another medication.

How long does it take for hyperpigmentation to fade?

Once what’s causing the dark spots or patches is found and stopped, fading can take time. A spot that is a few shades darker than your natural skin color will usually fade within 6 to 12 months.

If the color lies deep in your skin, however, fading can take years. Discoloration that lies deep in the skin is often slate blue to gray in color. It may also be brown, but the brown is much darker than your natural skin color.

Treatment can speed up the fading of dark spots and patches.

What treatments do dermatologists recommend for hyperpigmentation?

Effective treatment for dark spots and patches begins with sunscreen.

To get the protection you need to prevent (and help clear) dark spots, use tinted sunscreen with iron oxide. Iron oxide helps to protect your skin from the sun's visible light (a cause of dark spots). Along with iron oxide, your tinted sunscreen should also offer all the following:

• SPF 30 or higher

• Broad-spectrum protection

• Water-resistance

• Non-comedogenic (won’t clog pores) formula if you have oily skin

• The ability to blend with your skin tone (avoids a white cast)

How to find out whether a tinted sunscreen contains iron oxide

Look for iron oxide within the list of inactive ingredients. Iron oxide is considered an inactive ingredient because only ingredients that protect your skin from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays are listed as active ingredients. Since iron oxide protects skin from visible light rather than UV light, it’s listed as an inactive ingredient.

Sunscreen is essential. You want to apply it before going outside to all skin that clothing won’t cover. When used this way, sunscreen can prevent new dark spots and patches. It can also help to clear existing ones.

To get the best result, dermatologists also recommend wearing a wide-brimmed hat while you’re outside.

Use a product that can even out your skin tone

Once you eliminate what’s causing the dark spots and protect your skin from sunlight, a product that can fade dark spots (or even out your skin tone) tends to be more effective.

You may have success with a product that you can buy without a prescription. If you choose this option, use a product that contains one of the following ingredients:

• Azelaic acid

• Glycolic acid

• Kojic acid

• Retinoid (retinol, tretinoin, adapalene gel, or tazarotene)

• Vitamin C

These ingredients can fade existing dark spots. In some cases, the ingredient can also slow down production of melanin, which is what causes the dark spots and patches.

Some products that fade dark spots do more harm than good

When buying a product that can fade dark spots, you want to choose carefully. Some products contain ingredients that can be very harmful to your skin and your health.

Researchers have found steroids or mercury, which weren’t listed on the product’s label, in skin care products imported from other countries.

The steroids in these products can cause pimples and rashes. If you unknowingly apply it to your skin for a long time, the steroids can cause your skin to become thin and fragile or permanently discolored.

To protect your health, you want to buy a product made in the United States or one recommended by your dermatologist.

Never use liquid bleach

Liquid bleach is a harmful treatment for removing dark spots and patches. You should never apply it to your skin.

Is hyperpigmentation curable?

While you can get rid of the dark spots and patches, new ones can form.

Even though you cannot cure all forms of hyperpigmentation, you can prevent it from developing again. Here’s what dermatologists recommend:

• Apply your sunscreen every two hours, and after swimming or sweating.

• When outdoors, wear a wide-brimmed hat.

• Try to avoid being outdoors when the sun is strongest, which is between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

• Use skin care products that are gentle on your skin. If a product burns or stings when you apply it, stop using it.

• Continue to address the cause of the dark spots. For example, if you have a skin condition, continue to treat the skin condition.

How a dermatologist can help with hyperpigmentation

If the treatment you’re using fails to deliver the results you want, you may want to see a dermatologist. Dark spots and patches can be a challenge to treat. To get rid of some dark spots or patches, you may need a prescription-strength treatment.

A dermatologist has the knowledge and expertise to safely combine treatments to help you get the best results.

Related AAD resources

• 10 tips for clearing acne in skin of color

• Melasma: Treatment

• Skin cancer in darker skin tones

Images

• Image 1: Used with permission of Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology: J Am Acad Dermatol. 2010;63:274-83.

• Images 2-4: Getty Images

References Heath CR and Taylor SC. “Postinflammatory hyperpigmentation.” In: Kelly AP, Taylor SC. Dermatology for Skin of Color. McGraw Hill Medical, New York, 2009:337-340.

Manuskiatti W, Triwongwaranat D, et al. “Efficacy and safety of a carbon-dioxide ablative fractional resurfacing device for treatment of atrophic acne scars in Asians.” J Am Acad Dermatol. 2010;63(2):274-83.

Roberts WE. “Melasma.” In: Kelly AP, Taylor SC. Dermatology for Skin of Color. McGraw Hill Medical, New York, 2009:332-6.

Written by: Paula Ludmann, MS

Reviewed by: Crystal Aguh, MD, FAAD Erin Ducharme, MD, FAAD Nada Elbuluk, MD, FAAD Henry Lim, MD, FAAD Shari Lipner, MD, PhD, FAAD Benjamin Stoff, MD, FAAD

Last updated: 3/10/25

Advertisement

The American Academy of Dermatology is a non-profit professional organization and does not endorse companies or products. Advertising helps support our mission.

Opportunities

Advertising | Sponsorship

Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement