Dr. Daniel Yip Restorative Skin Health

spot treament

Two Birds In One Stone
Sunspots (lentigines) are frequently located over underlying melasma.
Laser treatment of sunspots at these locations invariably causes some degree of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
In these examples, subsequent laser treatment of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation brings about complimentary improvement of the underlying melasma as well.

another set of before & after pictures of sunspot removal

Pigmented Skin Lesions
For a pigmented skin lesion, the criteria to consider are:
1. Margin – well defined or poorly defined.
2. Color – even or uneven.
3. Symmetry – symmetrical or asymmetrical.
4. Diameter – larger or smaller than 6 mm.
5. Change – recent change of color, size, shape, irritation; or even bleeding.
This photo is from the leg of a woman in her early forties.
1. The margin is slightly irregular.
2. Brownish/black color is slightly non-homogeneous or non-uniform.
3. It is symmetrical.
4. The diameter is 10 mm.
5. There has been noticeable change in its size and extension of its margin in the
past 6 months.
We used caution with this type of lesion. An excisional biopsy was performed. The
pathology was dysplastic melanocytic nevus. In layman’s description, it is a mole with
precancerous changes. In other words, it will turn into a malignant melanoma (cancer)
at some point in future.
Caveat: Brown/black colored skin lesions always require close attention. Apply the five
criteria for assessment. If in doubt, do not hesitate to seek medical advice.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy new year! 🎅 🎄

⭐️ Dr.Yip's clinic will be closed from Dec 25th, 2025 to Jan 5th, 2026.
⭐️ We will open again on Jan 6th, 2026

🎄We wish you all joyful celebrations and a happy new year. 🎄🎉🌹

This 50 year old lady is of relatively darker underlying complexion (Fitzpatrick Type 4 to 5). Our major concern at the beginning was post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation (PIH). PIH is a
common phenomenon in individuals of darker skin involving reactive increase in
melanin production after skin treatments.
Treatment progression was cautious and slow. We took treatment breaks of two to three
weeks at a time to monitor stability.
Here are the before and after pictures.

Everyone thought she had some freckles on her cheek.
On careful inspection, however, it was apparent that the pigmentation was not superficial. It was likely deeper in the epidermis.
After laser removal of the top layer of pigmentation, the same hazy greyish coloration remained. It took a few further treatments to completely clear residual pigmentation at the deeper layers to arrive at this result.
treatment # vancouver

This lady was at our clinic six years ago to have her melasma treated. At that time, the
melasma was initially complicated by PIH (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation) before eventually responding well after a tortuous course.

She returned recently due to recurrence of her melasma. This time around, even though the melasma was visible, the overall skin condition was not as grave as it had been a few years back.
She shared that she had been diligent in maintaining the health of her skin. This is testament to the hypothesis that optimal skin health does serve to mitigate the severity of melasma.
This time around, exceptional precaution was taken to avoid running into PIH. Notably, her melasma problem resolved uneventfully over a much shorter course of treatment. We will continue the program for a few more sessions in the hope of achieving yet bigger improvements.

We encouraged continued diligence in skin care in the hope that her melasma will not
recur for many years to come.

.DanielYip

For skin of darker tone, such as Fitzpatrick 4 or above, the biggest challenge of laser
treatment is rebound pigmentation or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

Therefore, it is with utmost care and caution that we undertake to treat this East-Indian
lady’s long-standing pigmentation problem on her cheeks.

Treatment sessions are spaced at wide intervals to reduce over-stimulation and to
ensure stability of progress.

The photos show that we are achieving gradual improvement. Treatment is still on-going
as we endeavour to achieve eventual clearance of this lady’s pigmentation problem.