If you are experiencing symptoms of skin discoloration for the first time, or if you have already been diagnosed with a condition affecting your skin & would like advice on treatment, please make an appointment to see one of the professional dermatologists at our clinic, who can examine you, discuss your case, & help you find the safest & most effective treatment plan.
Definition
Discoloration is an area of irregular skin colour. Redness can be due to injury, inflammation, or illness. A shift in the skin’s natural levels of melanin, which provides pigmentation, can also lead to discoloration. Overproduction of melanin will create a patch that is darker than your usual skin colour; underproduction will create areas that are lighter.
Symptoms
Skin discoloration can be caused by a number of different conditions & circumstances, & includes conditions where the skin turns pink, red, purple, grey, greenish, yellow, darker than normal, or lighter than normal.
- Radiation therapy (chemotherapy): skin turns red, may blister & peel, & hair loss occurs at the site
- Sunburn: red, dry, peeling, blistering skin
- Rosacea: redness triggered by allergens & irritants
- Injury: bruise or contusion due to trauma, where the blood vessels burst, causing the skin to turn purple, brown, or deep red
- Tinea versicolor: a rash of tan, brown, pink, or red spots that grows slowly, can be lighter or darker than your normal skin colour
- Blood blister: caused by a blood vessel breaking beneath the skin, usually due to trauma
- Strawberry nevus: red or purplish lesion which appears at birth or in very early childhood
- Vitiligo: an autoimmune condition that causes the skin to lose pigmentation, usually affecting small areas of the skin in patches, & may be accompanied by premature greying of the hair
- Skin cancers: non-melanoma skin cancer, melanoma skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma can all affect the normal colour of the skin at the site
- Actinic keratosis: the skin reddens & may also peel & crust
- Seborrheic keratosis: a harmless skin growth that resembles skin cancer & causes a darkened patch of skin
- Acanthosis nigricans: a common disorder of pigmentation leading to dark, velvety patches of skin affecting the knees, elbows, armpits, groin, & neck, which may be itchy
- Addison’s disease: caused by a lack of steroid hormones produced by the adrenal glands
- Melasma: dark patches appear on the face, neck, chest, or arms, more common during pregnancy, & in people with darker skin, or who have had a lot of sun exposure, can be temporary or permanent
- Jaundice: the skin turns yellow or greenish due to high levels of bilirubin in the blood, usually accompanied by dark urine & pale stools
