She was a young woman in her second pregnancy. She was one among many in our outpatient clinic. But she was different. There was something distinctly unusual about her face.
"What happened to you?" I asked her, looking at her face.
"Doctor, I had this blackish pigmentation on my cheek bones. My husband went to a chemist, who gave him a cream that he said would cure me. I applied it to the pigmented area" she said.
"Ah!" I said.
"The skin just came off the next day. Then I went to the skin specialist in this hospital. He prescribed me some cream. Now I am much better after using that."
"That's good" I said. She had chloasma, and thanks to the chemist, she had no skin where there had been chloasma. There was just a raw pink area. It was a chemical burn, which was now thankfully healing.
"Will it remain like this?" she asked. I knew she must have asked the same question to the dermatologist too.
"It will heal" I said, avoiding to say what percentage of the original skin texture would be restored. "Did you not have such pigmentation in your first pregnancy?" I was wondering why she had tried such treatment only in her second pregnancy. After all, it occurred in susceptible women in successive pregnancies, and also with the use of combination type of oral contraceptive pills.
"No" she said. I thought there was some regret in her voice, though she did not voice the reason for that regret. She went away. Her experience reminded me of a popular skin preparation in market in my younger days. There used to be ads of that in the newspapers, claiming it cured all skin maladies.
"It removes all skin lesions" our dermatology professor had told us. It removes all skin it is applied to. naturally there is no skin disease left behind. Then we have to work on restoring the skin when the patient reaches us." Now I did not see such ads, but that or a similar product seemed to be in market.
"What happened to you?" I asked her, looking at her face.
"Doctor, I had this blackish pigmentation on my cheek bones. My husband went to a chemist, who gave him a cream that he said would cure me. I applied it to the pigmented area" she said.
"Ah!" I said.
"The skin just came off the next day. Then I went to the skin specialist in this hospital. He prescribed me some cream. Now I am much better after using that."
"That's good" I said. She had chloasma, and thanks to the chemist, she had no skin where there had been chloasma. There was just a raw pink area. It was a chemical burn, which was now thankfully healing.
"Will it remain like this?" she asked. I knew she must have asked the same question to the dermatologist too.
"It will heal" I said, avoiding to say what percentage of the original skin texture would be restored. "Did you not have such pigmentation in your first pregnancy?" I was wondering why she had tried such treatment only in her second pregnancy. After all, it occurred in susceptible women in successive pregnancies, and also with the use of combination type of oral contraceptive pills.
"No" she said. I thought there was some regret in her voice, though she did not voice the reason for that regret. She went away. Her experience reminded me of a popular skin preparation in market in my younger days. There used to be ads of that in the newspapers, claiming it cured all skin maladies.
"It removes all skin lesions" our dermatology professor had told us. It removes all skin it is applied to. naturally there is no skin disease left behind. Then we have to work on restoring the skin when the patient reaches us." Now I did not see such ads, but that or a similar product seemed to be in market.
