One cause of food-induced skin pigmentation is the chemical psoralen, which increases the risk of age spots and makes the skin more sensitive to UV rays. Psoralen is found in foods like the common fig, parsley, parsnips, limes, and celery.
A wide variety of chemicals are capable of altering skin color. Those capable of causing hyperpigmentation include many cancer chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics, metals, hormones, neuroleptics, cardiac medicines, and dyes. Hypopigmentation is most commonly caused by catechols, phenols, and sulfhydryl compounds.
First described in 1919 by Hess and Meyers, carotenemia is the medical terminology describing yellow-orange skin pigmentation due to high carotene levels in the blood. Excessive consumption of fruits and vegetables high in carotene content is often the culprit.
Vitamins can be used to lighten your skin and lighten dark spots. Three of the best vitamins for lightening dark spots are vitamin C, vitamin B12, and vitamin E. Vitamin C helps your skin produce more collagen while inhibiting the formation of melanin.
Melanin is a substance in your body that produces hair, eye and skin pigmentation. The more melanin you produce, the darker your eyes, hair and skin will be. The amount of melanin in your body depends on a few different factors, including genetics and how much sun exposure your ancestral population had.
Your skin can develop darker patches as the result of excess melanin production, typically caused by skin inflammation, hormone fluctuations, and poor lifestyle choices. Age spots – also known as sun spots and liver spots – can also be signs of skin conditions, such as Melasma.
The hyperpigmentation related to vitamin B12 deficiency is more common in darker-skinned patients. Few other cases of skin hyperpigmentation due to vitamin B12 deficiency have been reported in the literature. The mechanism of hyperpigmentation is due to increased melanin synthesis rather than a defect in melanin.
The darkening of certain areas of the skin can occur at any age and are often caused by sun exposure, inflammation, hormonal changes, or ageing. When exposed to the sun's damaging UV rays, the skin produces excess melanin, resulting in darker patches or sunspots.
Additionally, specific drug-induced pigmentation is avoidable by limiting sun exposure. These drugs include antimalarials, psychotropic, amiodarone, and tetracyclines.
Eggs: Eggs, especially the yolk, contain vitamin B6, omega-3 and omega-6, which hydrate the skin and promote tanning. Don't eat too many though, as they are high in cholesterol. Rocket, broccoli and spinach: Lots of green vegetables can also accelerate tanning; eat them raw in salads to get the greatest benefit.
What does seem to be the general consensus though in answer to the question, does taking vitamin D help you tan, is that whilst it's probably unlikely that vitamin D supplements darken the skin, being exposed to sunlight helps us to manufacture vitamin D, and in this process, we may also get a tan.
The deficiency of vitamin B12 can cause specific skin manifestations, such as hyperpigmentation, vitiligo, angular stomatitis, and hair and nail changes [1].
Iron, a vital nutrient for our bodies, plays a role in melanin production, the pigment responsible for our skin colour. Some studies have suggested that iron deficiency may lead to increased melanin production, potentially playing a role in the development of melasma.
Causes of hyperpigmentation include: Skin inflammation (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) Use of certain drugs (such as minocycline, certain cancer chemotherapies, and birth control pills) Hormone system diseases such as Addison disease.
Vitiligo is a chronic (long-lasting) autoimmune disorder that causes patches of skin to lose pigment or color. This happens when melanocytes – skin cells that make pigment – are attacked and destroyed, causing the skin to turn a milky-white color.
It may not be the nicest thing to think about, but the human skin sheds and then generates millions of cells everyday. When the tanned skin cells are replaced with new, untanned skin cells, your body will gradually return to its normal colour.
Vitiligo occurs when pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) die or stop producing melanin — the pigment that gives your skin, hair and eyes color.